Brussels, 02/08/2005 (Agence Europe) - For the second year running, the European Commission is organising a large summer campaign, from 29 July to 15 September 2005, to promote the European Road Safety Charter established in 2004 to foster active involvement by the civil society in the effort to improve safety on Europe's roads. Leaflets will be distributed to most of the toll stations in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal in order to invite European drivers to share their ideas on how to make roads safer. Drivers may send their suggestions by mail or via the Internet and, after the contributions have been evaluated, the winner will receive a trip for two to the annual congress of ASECAP (European association of tolled motorway companies), in Croatia in 2006. The campaign also underlines the importance of frequent rests for drivers on long trips by car. The slogan this year is “A break every two hours makes your journey safer and more comfortable!”. Jacques Barrot, Commission Vice-President responsible for transport, states: “Tougher police controls have substantially improved road safety in many countries but more action is needed to reach our goal of halving the number of road fatalities in 2010”. “This campaign emphasises that road safety is also every driver's responsibility”, he stresses. In 2001, 50,000 persons were killed in road accidents in Europe. In 2004, the number of deaths due to road accidents was reduced by 13% on average (from -32% in France and -30% in Luxembourg, to -5% in the United Kingdom) but was up by 19% in Cyprus, 6% in Latvia, 5% in Hungary, 4% in the Czech Republic and 2% in Poland. (For further information on the European Road Safety Charter and on the Summer Campaign: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/transport/roadsafety/charter/index_en.htm. For statistics on road accidents: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/transport/care/index_en.htm).