12 EU countries, including Poland, will implement a project to reduce the number of road accident victims among drivers and pedestrians. Its aim is to answer the question of how to deal with the causes of accidents
Although European roads are the safest in the world and road safety has improved significantly, the number of fatalities and serious injuries is still high. According to the European Commission - too high. In 2018, over 25,000 died in road accidents - that’s 21 percent less compared to 2010, but only 1 percent less than in 2017
Twelve EU Member States will join forces and start sharing their ideas to improve road safety as part of a new project funded by the Union and launched on Wednesday in Brussels.
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), which will coordinate the Project, emphasizes that there are significant differences in the level of road safety within the EU. The three-year project aims to eliminate them by combining the experience of experts from Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden. They will work together and share best practices in reducing speed, building secure infrastructure and improving law enforcement, data collection, as well as pedestrian and cyclist safety in urban areas.
The EU sets ambitious goals for reducing the number of accidents. The goal is to reduce the number of fatalities and people with serious injuries in road accidents by 50% over the years 2020-2030.
As a participant of the project, Poland intends to focus on three pillars: improving traffic supervision (combating excessive speed), improving the safety of vulnerable road users, especially pedestrians, and standards of safe infrastructure.
The project is entirely financed from the EU budget.