EC publishes the Road Safety Action Plan

Publication date: 20 July 2010

The Commission adopted today the Road Safety Action plan for the next ten years. The target of halving fatalities remains, although it was not met in the previous period. Initiatives proposed today in a set of European Road Safety Policy Orientations 2011-2020 range from setting higher standards for vehicle safety, to improving the training of road users, and increasing the enforcement of road rules. The Commission will work closely with Member States to implement this programme.

European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas responsible for Transport, said: "A hundred people die everyday on Europe's roads. We have made good progress since 2001 and we have succeeded in saving nearly 80,000 lives. But the number of fatalities and injuries on our roads is still unacceptable. We are looking at what kind of cars motorists drive, where they drive and how they drive and we want to cut road deaths in half by 2020."

The Commission has set seven strategic objectives for the next ten years (see below), with initiatives targeting vehicles, infrastructures and users. The document does not set a timeframe for the actions. For training, for example, the aspects covered by driving licences could be expanded, minimum requirements set for driving instructors, and a probation period set after obtaining a licence. To improve infrastructures, European subsidies could be tied to respect for road safety criteria (this is already the case for funding under the Trans-European Transport Network).  

• Improved safety measures for trucks and cars
• Building safer roads
• Developing intelligent vehicles
• Strengthening licensing and training
• Better enforcement
• Targeting injuries
• A new focus on motorcyclists.

 Road Safety Action Plan: owards a European road safety area: policy orientations on road safety 2011-2020

Detailed measures for each strategic objective

Speed governors or anti-collision radar could become mandatory on certain vehicles along with vehicle locking systems in case of consumption of alcohol (eg on school buses or for professional and non-professional drivers following an alcohol-related accident). The Commission also wishes to place special focus on motorcyclists, who remain very vulnerable on the road. Fitting of advanced braking systems (ABS) could become mandatory on motorcycles and EU legislation on roadworthiness tests could be applied to them. Speaking to the press, Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas rejected the idea of harmonising speed limits in the EU or penalties for road infringements.

The action plan sets no targets for reducing the number of road injuries, primarily because there is no common definition of what constitutes a serious or minor injury. However, the executive will work on such definitions and agrees to add a target figure to its document for the reduction of road injuries once the definitions are in place. According to a Eurobarometer published the same day as the action plan, Europeans think that states should give priority to improving road infrastructures (52%), enhancing enforcement of traffic regulations (42%) and enforcing regulations identically for national and foreign drivers (36%).

FIA European Bureau Brochure on Road Safety