EU Presidency Statement - Global Road Safety Crisis

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. Furthermore, the following countries also align themselves with this statement: The ten "Acceding Countries" which will become members of the European Union on 1 May 2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, the Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey; the countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro; and the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area.

Mr Chairman,

Today's debate comes at the end of a week in which we have all been asked by the UN/WHO to place a particular emphasis on road safety. Traffic collisions are at epidemic levels in many states and there seems to be a widespread acceptance that they are an inevitable consequence of ever-increasing mobility. That view feeds on and encourages the type of behaviour that creates the environment that gives rise to such collisions in the first place. Challenging that behaviour and the premise on which it is based requires the advocacy of champions. Bringing the subject of road safety to this plenary today reflects the vision and commitment of His Excellency Minister bin Alawi of Oman that societies around the world must address both the causes and results of traffic collisions.

Against the background of 1.2 million deaths and 50 million injuries on our roads the launch in Paris last week of the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention by the World Health Organization and the World Bank presents a timely commentary on road safety in its broadest sense. The report presents an overview of road safety on a global basis emphasizing the scope of the problem and discussing policies aimed at the prevention of collisions and reduction of their effects.

The consequences of our acceptance of the inevitability of traffic collisions have been clearly established in very stark terms by the WHO. Failure to act could see injuries from road traffic placed at the third highest contributor to the global burden of disease and injury by 2020.

However, many societies and Governments have chosen to face this challenge. Indeed, mentalities are changing as regards road safety: road accident fatalities are no longer accepted as an inevitable corollary of increased mobility. On the contrary, the continuous reduction of road accident levels is now considered a challenge - a challenge which indeed warrants considerable efforts.

For example, in Australia and Canada great progress has been made. Similarly in Europe we can look to the successes of countries like Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Against the background of rising vehicle populations and increases in driver numbers, these states have recorded dramatic reductions in road casualty levels. In parallel to these success stories, other European countries have also achieved considerable improvements. It is important to underline that these successes are generally based on the adoption of, wide-ranging planned approaches to road safety policy with ambitious targets, where all actors are engaged on the delivery of a strategic approach. Over the past number of years such an approach has seen road deaths in Ireland fall dramatically.

Mr Chairman,

It was also appropriate that the efforts undertaken at national level would be mirrored and complemented at the level of the European Union. In fact, The European Union has recognized that there is scope for greater advances if all of the member states are prepared to share not just a vision for the future but also the best practice that has delivered such progress at national level in the past. Referring to recent developments in this regard, let me highlight that the European Road Safety Action Programme , presented by the European Commission in June 2003, has at its centre the goal of the realization of a reduction of 50% in the number of people killed in traffic collisions by 2010 as compared to 2001. In the current Union of 15 Member States there are 1.3 million accidents annually, causing 40,000 deaths and 1.7 million injuries, with an estimated economic cost of 2% of the GDP of the EU. Our aim therefore translates into 20,000 fewer deaths per year. The European Parliament and the Council of European Ministers of Transport have, on several occasions, subscribed explicitly to this goal. In doing so, they have placed road safety very high on the political agenda, and it will remain there, since they have also acknowledged that improving road safety requires a continuous effort.

The Programme identifies as main causes of collisions and as major contributing factors to their effects: excessive speed, drinking and driving and not-using protective measures such as seat belts and motorcycle helmets. For this reason, it underlines the urgent need for stricter enforcement of existing legislation in that respect. Furthermore, The Action Programme provides European States with an overview of the relevant information and the actions - legislative and otherwise - which are required in order to achieve the goal of a 50% reduction of road accident fatalities. It also describes structures through which we can better address these issues and provides the information required to replicate the performance of those states which have taken the lead in road safety policy.

The Programme also places great emphasis on the absolute need to engage civil society in the delivery of better road safety. To that effect, it encourages the signing of a "Road Safety Charter" by actors from the public and private sectors, in which these actors should list their individual aims and actions concerning road safety. I had the privilege of hosting a ceremony in Dublin last week, where, in the presence of the Ministers of Transport of the EU the Charter was signed by some 39 organisations and companies, each of whom made specific measurable commitments to improve road safety.

The EU Action Programme also places great emphasis on the need for the gathering of collision data and the information relating to collision prevention programmes deployed in each of the member states. This will be achieved through the establishment of the European Road Safety Observatory which shall disseminate information on best practices in addressing road safety challenges.

Of course, it is clear that we should exchange best practice across all nations worldwide, not just within the European Union. We can all learn from the relevant experience of other nations in this context . To meet this challenge, the resolution proposed for adoption at this Plenary promotes the concept of the designation of one organization through which the concept of the sharing of information and experience can be promoted on a worldwide basis.

The success of road safety programmes in many countries over the past years and decades bears testimony to the possibilities that exist for addressing what has become one of the greatest threats to global health. Replicating that success by the promotion of such programmes worldwide is both a challenge and an opportunity. Let us take up this challenge, and so drastically reduce the numbers of our citizens that needlessly lose their lives on roads every day of every year.

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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• EU Presidency Statement - United Nations General Assembly: Improving Global Road Safety  (31/3/2008)