CONCERN OVER 2007 ROAD DEATHS RISE

Publication date: 24 September 2007

Europe is experiencing an unexpected rise in road deaths so far this year, according to a new survey conducted by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) amongst its member clubs.

In recent years Europe has made huge strides in the reduction of road fatalities, but this latest snapshot survey released 14 September, raises concerns over how to sustain the good work.

Until now, the EU had looked on course for reaching its target of a 50% reduction in fatalities between 2001 and 2010. Across Europe, there has been an overall trend of reductions in road casualties. However, so far during 2007 many countries have experienced an increase in fatalities. The situation is variable, but in Denmark road fatalities are up by as much as 40% compared to last year, Germany has seen an 8% increase in road deaths and new EU members Slovenia and Poland have also experienced recent increases.

Other figures include:

The new member states have also experienced an upward spike. In Poland road fatalities rose by more than 14%. The Czech Republic, a country that has made much progress in recent years, experienced a similar trend with 14% more deaths. Cyprus records almost 10% more fatalities. EU candidate Croatia recorded an almost 10% rise in fatalities.
Germany, which has been one of the best performers in Europe, experienced a sudden rise of casualties. In the first six months of 2007, 177 more people (8 %) have lost their lives on German roads.
In the UK, the AA’s points to the 13% increase in the number of killed and seriously injured pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists in the early part of this year.

While the figures do not indicate that the decline will continue in future, there is concern that the progress made in previous years may now be slowing. Alerted to the increases by its member clubs, the FIA is calling for a number of measures to ensure that the EU gets back on top of the situation. These include:

The mandatory introduction of the key safety technology Electronic Stability Control into all new motor vehicles;
More work to encourage the use of seatbelts across Europe;
Improvements in road design in order to save lives; and
Further refining and improving enforcement measures, targeting driver behaviour through education and enforcement.

Only a few countries, including Spain and Italy have reported reductions. Worryingly according to the results of the survey it appears that vulnerable road users, in particular motorcyclists, have fared the worst with this recent reverse in trends.

“The successful reduction in the number of road deaths in recent years should not be an excuse for complacency,” said Werner Kraus, Chairman of the FIA Eurocouncil, reacting to the results of the survey.

“These preliminary figures give only a snapshot. More in-depth analysis is still required. However, they are sufficiently compelling to urge all governments and organisations involved in road safety to redouble their efforts to improve safety on Europe’s roads.”

NOTES FOR THE EDITORS

- Figures from FIA clubs were based on a variety of sources including: police and traffic agency reports, government research and the clubs’ own surveys.

- A possible reason for the recent reverse in trends include the mild winter of 2006/7 all over Europe, leading to increased traffic of passenger cars and powered two-wheelers.

- The figures do not represent official EU statistics and are collected on the basis of ongoing research into road fatalities. Also they do not reflect a fixed time period. Timescales, and indeed methods of reporting and calculating vary between different European countries.

For more information please contact: Olivier Lenz - Tel. +32 2 282 0825