In order to be able to achieve in practice the European Union’s ambitious goal of halving road deaths by 2010, at Friday’s Transport Council ministers agreed common conclusions on a concrete package of measures designed among other things to bring further improvements in vehicle safety and road infrastructure safety.
"Europe is on course to reduce the number of fatalities on the roads. However, efforts to improve road safety should be further stepped up in all Member States in order to meet the EU’s road safety target. In 2005, 41 600 people were killed on Europe’s roads, which represents a 17.5% reduction in the number of traffic deaths between 2001 und 2005. In Austria, we have even managed to achieve a reduction of almost 30% since 1999", Transport Minister Gorbach said.
Other important topics were also addressed, such as the need for more enforcement and new initiatives to raise all road users’ awareness of the risks in road traffic. In this context, a joint European road safety campaign and a pan-European road safety day were launched at the Informal Meeting of Transport Ministers in Bregenz at the beginning of March.
"The results of the Transport Council are a clear sign that EU Transport Ministers are committed to making our roads safer and optimising road safety, costs and quality of life. For only by working together can the EU achieve its ambitious road safety objectives", Gorbach concluded.
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