Credit © European Community, 2007.
Modern, well designed road infrastructure:
essential to the prevention of road deaths.

European Road Safety Programme

Road accident statistics show that five years ago almost 50,000 people died each year on European roads. The European Road Safety Programme is part of Europe’s answer to this problem. The programme, introduced in 2003, seeks to halve the number of people killed on European roads by 2010. It includes a road safety charter and actions aimed at road users, vehicles and roads infrastructure.

Improvements in vehicle safety and road users’ awareness of the issue have had a significant impact on road deaths and the UK is one of the leading EU Member States in this respect. However, there is still room for improvement across the EU and this is particularly the case in newer Member States with dated roads infrastructure. As part of the road safety programme the European Commission has proposed a road safety infrastructure Directive which would require all Member States to carry out:

Road safety impact assessments. These will help decision makers make the right choices when deciding on the development of new roads or major changes to the operation of existing roads, particularly for adjacent networks.
Road safety audits. These will offer independent control and recommendations for technical verification concerning the design of either new roads or the reworking of existing roads.
Network safety management. The aim here is to target roads with a high concentration of accidents.
Safety inspections. These will form a regular part of road maintenance.

The Directive has been the topic of some debate in Brussels recently as currently these compulsory measures would only apply to the trans-European road network. There has been some appetite within the European Parliament for this to be extended to all motorways and main roads though it remains to be seen how much support this will receive when negotiations resume after the summer.

In any case the message is clear, the EU is committed to continuing the downward trend in the number of road deaths each year and improving the management of our road network plays a significant role in achieving this.