FIA Clubs Brainstorm over Future Road Safety Policy for Europe

Publication date: 12 March 2009

New action plan for road safety in Europe beyond 2010 due for publication shortly

A European Road Safety Action Programme for 2011-2020 is currently in the making. FIA road safety experts took time out to brainstorm ways forward for road safety. Coming from both EU member States and non EU member states, experts discussed and considered wide ranging potential road safety solutions.

Responding to the concerns pf European Commissioner for Transport, Vice President Antonio Tajani that a ‘business as usual approach’ to road safety policy in Europe will reduce road accidents, a recent brainstorming session by FIA clubs in Europe came to the same conclusion: Europe needs a drastic shake up of current road safety policy if it wants to keep pushing down road fatalities and injuries. The FIA European Bureau’s thematic workshop on road safety chaired by Miguel Nadal, Director of the RACC Foundation, Spain, set itself the objective of distilling a series of brainstorming sessions into the basis for a FIA road safety policy for Europe in the medium term.

Setting ambitious targets for death and injury reduction were considered a vital for any future road safety policy.  Benchmarking the road safety performance of the EU’s 27 member states across the different road safety pillars (human behaviour, vehicle performance and the road infrastructure), better and more harmonised statistics, effective stakeholder alliances, increased deployment of eSafety technologies and efficient enforcement of traffic laws were all considered key elements of any future policy. Many of these areas are already the focus of FIA clubs’ attention either via their policy work or practical implementation initiatives.

Greater European harmonisation of EU laws on road construction and maintenance were seen as another must. Road authorities must be held to account in the same way as the drivers. Calls were also made for permanent investment in road safety across all pillars (driver training, vehicle safety and road infrastructure safety management) as well as urgent action in specific areas such as traffic education programmes in schools, driving license legislation reform and road safety management improvements. High risk groups such as youth, rural road users, motorcyclists, professional and older drivers also require specific targeting.

Road safety and the challenges it presents must be addressed with a range of measures including enforcement of traffic rules. There is no point in having rules if they are not respected and they will not be respected if they are not enforced. The European Commission has targeted four offences that pose a serious threat to safety (speeding, drink-driving, non-use of seat belts and failing to stop at a red traffic light). In future, the focus will need to be expanded to include other offences like over-fatigue, keeping the safety distance, reckless overtaking, distracted driving, and driving under the influence drugs.

Any strategy targeting 2020 should not overlook the contribution technological developments will make to enhancing road safety, for instance daytime running lights with sensor control, seat belt reminders, a fire protection package, and alco-locks etc.

Looking at the safety of our road networks, a lot of safety measures have already been implemented. However, they mainly target inter-urban highways or roads in urban areas. However a coherent policy targeting safety on rural roads is very much needed. Safety for bicycles and motorbikes is also problematic.

Technological developments with e-safety in passenger vehicles, ITS infrastructure including emergency call (E-call) and intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) all need to be incorporated into road safety policies. Other improvements can come from massive infrastructure upgrade programmes, research and development into modal shift.

A good road safety policy requires a good understanding of the situation which in turn is derived from having available optimal road safety statistics. Currently the situation in Europe is one of inherent incompatibility between the accident data gathered by the various Member States which currently makes comparative analyses at international level extremely difficult.

 This brainstorming explored many avenues towards an improved and sustainable European road safety policy post 2010. The final conclusions are currently being distilled in to concrete policy objectives that will provide direction for the next decade. 

For more information contact: Caroline Ofoegbu, FIA European Bureau