Citation

Breen J. Vis. Veh. 1999; 7: 3-10.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This keynote lecture aims to highlight the importance of common action on road safety from the perspective of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). The free and safe movement of goods and people is at the heart of the aims of the European Union (EU). Since the beginning of the 1990s, there have been significant developments in transport safety policy. Roads in Europe are less safe than on some other continents and within the EU there is a wide gap in safety levels from one member state to another. Some of the key problems are: the gap between the effective and the practiced, excess and inappropriate speed; excess alcohol use; accident risk in young drivers; non-use of protective equipment; untreated high-risk accident sites; and insufficient crash crash protection. The European Commission has proposed a total of sixty-five measures to reduce casualties and add value to national efforts. ETSC highlights the following as being most important: gathering and dissemination of information and best practice; accident prevention measures; and measures to reduce the consequences of accidents. Of key importance is the recognition that road casualties are caused by failures in the traffic system as a whole. The traffic system has to adapt to the needs and vulnerabilities of road users rather than the other way around.