FIA welcomes adoption of long awaited Road Safety Directive

Publication date: 25 June 2008

PRESS RELEASE

Brussels, 25th June 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“The European Parliament’s adoption of the long-awaited road infrastructure safety management directive is a positive step” said Werner Kraus, Chairman of the FIA Eurocouncil. The set of non-binding guidelines annexed to the directive on how to manage road infrastructure safety provide a viable implementation tool for member states.

According to Kraus, “Thursday’s vote was important for all European citizens. Safety on Europe’s roads has made a big step forward. EU-wide legislation is essential if we want to embark on a major eradication of high-risk roads which is the only way we will meet current road safety targets rapidly. The present directive is a first step in the right direction. Moreover, it calls for a revision in the near future of the non-binding character of the annexes. We certainly welcome that provision.”

Investment in safe road infrastructure brings high returns according the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP). “There is almost no investment in the European Economy with a higher social and economic return than safe road infrastructure programmes” says EuroRAP Chairman John Dawson. “Across Europe, investment is stalled because policy makers and the public are simply unaware that simple, affordable attention to the detail of safe road design can save thousands of lives annually and benefit the European economy by billions of euro. Until this new Directive, European law gave more protection to wildlife on the roads than people. It is a first small step towards the self explaining; forgiving roads we need on both new and existing roads.” Making road infrastructure safer and more forgiving of human error is a must be for any future road safety policy.

“The ultimate solution for safety requires five star drivers, driving in five star cars on five star roads” stresses Werner Kraus. If the carnage on Europe’s roads is to be abated, consumer awareness of what is required for safer road infrastructure goes hand in hand with guidelines to the road authorities. Widely published independent assessment and benchmarking provide operators and responsible authorities with a strong stimulus to go beyond minimum standards in the provision of a single market in road safety for road users. This has been the case with Euro NCAP (new cars), EuroRAP (roads), EuroTAP (tunnels) and EuroTest (mobility), successful benchmarking assessments of safety implemented by FIA motoring organisations, helping to create a European single market of safety.

Transparency and independent consumer information requires open access to data generally eld by road authorities on the safety performance of Europe’s roads. Details of crashes, accidents and traffic flows should not be viewed as something ‘owned’ by operators. Guaranteeing safety, transparency and public information must be the main priorities of this directive.
END

Note to the Editors:
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the world’s leading mobility organisation, represents via its affiliated members, national motoring and touring organisations over 100 million motorists worldwide and 34 million motorists in Europe. Europe’s motoring and touring organisations have as their highest priority to make mobility more sustainable, i.e. more reliable, cleaner and safer while keeping it affordable for all.

For more information please contact: Olivier Lenz - Tel. +32 2 282 08 25

Web references
http://www.eurorap.org
http://www.eurotestmobility.eu
http://www.eurotap.eu
http://www.euroncap.com