Brussels, 27/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for Transport, Loyola de Palacio, has once again called upon the 25 Member States of the EU to make available all the resources needed to boost road safety. This appeal was launched at the informal meeting of Transport Ministers of the EU on road safety on Community territory, on 25 and 26 October in Verona. Last year, at the same time and same place, the 15 Transport Ministers of the EU met around the same theme and adopted the "Charter of Verona", laying down broad EU guidelines for road safety (see EUROPE of 29 October 2003).
"The figures are terrifying and we cannot allow ourselves to become resigned", said Commissioner de Palacio. According to the Commission, some 47,000 people lose their lives each year on European roads, and a further 2 million are injured. If there is substantial progress, there has not been enough, said Ms de Palacio. Furthermore, the situation differs enormously within the EU: whereas the Europe of Fifteen has managed to reduce the number of deaths on its roads by 20% since 2001 (32,900 deaths were recorded in 2004 compared to 40,000 in 2001), "developments are far from being satisfactory at Europe of Twenty-Five level", said the Commission.
In order to defeat this phenomenon, and to try to reach the objective the EU set itself for 2010, to halve the number of road deaths in the EU, Ms de Palacio thus impressed it upon the Member States that they must make available all necessary resources to boost road safety. "My view is that the area that needs most work is that of controls and sanctions which will be determining for safety", she said. The Commission feels that it is fundamental to reinforce and harmonise these controls and sanctions on Community territory to make drivers more accountable. If it is up to the Member States to implement these controls, the EU has a part to play in promoting an increasingly coordinated approach, says the Commission.