New EU has highest number of road deaths

The EU’s newest member states have the highest rate of fatal road accidents, according to new statistics unveiled by Brussels on Wednesday.

Aggressive driving coupled with double the number of vehicles over the last ten years, on roads many of which are unimproved since the soviet era, mean that new member states such as Latvia and Lithuania have more that twice the EU average of road accident fatalities.

New figures released as part of the European commission’s mid-term review of the European road safety action programme, reveal that Latvia had 220 victims per million inhabitants, compared to an EU average of 95.

EU transport chief, Jacques Barrot told journalists that there were 115 deaths every day across the EU.

“We must develop a culture of road safety,” said the commission vice-president.

Barrot said that progress in reducing fatalities had been made, and more than 8000 lives had been saved compared to five years ago.

“But the speed of progress will not be enough to reduce road fatalities by half to 25,000 by 2010 as proposed by the action programme when it was adopted in 2003.”

Last year, 41,600 people died on Europe’s roads, compared to 50,000 in 2001, a significant but not nearly big enough drop required to achieve the commission’s target.

At the present rate said Barrot, there are likely to be more than 32,000 road deaths across the EU in 2010.

Eight, mainly central and eastern European member states saw slow progress on tackling the problem according to the review’s accompanying report.

And the gap between the best and worst performing countries is widening.

Latvia and Lithuania, despite introducing tough new road safety laws have almost four times as many fatal accidents as the UK, Sweden or Malta.

France managed to reduce its road deaths by more than 30 per cent while Lithuanian fatalities rose by seven per cent.

Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have the worst road death records.

But an overall reduction of more than 17 per cent over the last four years “must be seen as an incentive for everyone to do more still,” said Barrot.

The French commissioner added that the EU had helped put road safety at the top of Europe’s political agenda, and praised EU legislation, including the recent adoption of a 56 hour week for truck drivers

The new figures also revealed a sharp increase in the number of motorcyclist killed on Europe’s roads.

Barrot said he hoped EU governments would back Brussels proposals on introducing gradual driving licences for the most powerful motorbikes.

“The number of deaths involving motorbikes is a major concern,” said Barrot, adding “If we continue at the present rate, in 2010, one in three fatalities will be a motorcyclist.”

The commissioner will discuss the findings of the mid-term review with EU ministers next month, and is likely to call for tougher national action in areas such as tracking down and prosecuting driving violations received in other member states, and promote the safety benefits of new technology and improved infrastructure.

And the commission is set to back a new initiative to accelerate the take up of smarter, safer and cleaner vehicle technology, when it gives an ‘intelligent car’ initiative the green light on Thursday during a launch event showcasing all the available new technologies.

The official launch will take place on Thursday at the Brussels Autoworld museum in the Cinquantenaire Park, from 10.30 onwards and will showcase a number of life saving intelligent technologies, including practical demonstrations, prototype cars and simulators.

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