Press releases
New EU rules covering road infrastructure safety and minimum vehicle safety standards moved a step closer today, following approval by a key committee of MEPs in the European Parliament. The European Transport Safety Council welcomed the progress and is calling for the EU to reach a final deal on both pieces of legislation as soon as possible. The European Parliament’s Transport committee voted to approve an update to rules governing road infrastructure safety management. The existing requirements ensure governments carry out regular road safety […]
ETSC is warning that a weakened version of new EU road infrastructure safety rules, set to be agreed by national ministers of transport on Monday, will do little to improve road safety. ETSC is calling for MEPs in the European Parliament to demand more wide-ranging and effective rules when negotiations begin on the final legislation early next year. In a text set to be approved at the Transport Council meeting in Brussels, EU Member States have introduced weaker language on three key elements of […]
ETSC has warmly welcomed the endorsement today by EU ministers of industry of a new package of mandatory minimum vehicle safety standards. Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Council said: “Today EU member states have given strong backing to a game-changing package of new minimum vehicle safety standards. If this legislation is passed, together with the European Parliament, in the form it was proposed, it will prevent 25,000 people from dying over 16 years – a massive step forward for road […]
A coalition of automotive supplier companies, cities and groups campaigning for greater road safety (1) are calling on EU Ministers of Industry to give their full support to a proposed package of new vehicle safety measures at the EU Competitiveness Council meeting on Thursday 29 November. At the meeting in Brussels, industry ministers will outline their initial response, known as a “general approach”, to a package of 16 vehicle safety measures proposed by the European Commission in May. The coalition, representing €600 billion of […]
In the run-up to crucial votes by EU industry ministers and in the European Parliament, the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has launched a new social media campaign in support of future EU vehicle safety standards. In May this year the European Commission announced a significant proposal to upgrade mandatory vehicle safety standards for all new cars, vans, lorries and buses sold in the EU. The combination of new standards and technologies could save 25,000 lives in the EU between 2022 and 2037 according […]
ETSC has announced the 2018 winners of the PRAISE awards, in recognition of outstanding efforts taken by companies to improve road safety at work. The large company award goes to CTT, the Portuguese postal services company. In the same category, FM Conway, the UK-based infrastructure services company was highly commended. The award for a public authority this year is awarded to STIB-MIVB, the Brussels public transport company. The winners will be honoured at a conference and award ceremony to be held in Brussels today […]
A coalition of safety groups, traffic police, cyclists, transport workers and the road sector are calling on the European Parliament to back a proposal to extend the scope of EU road infrastructure safety rules to cover all primary roads in Europe, and to incorporate the needs of cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists in the implementation of the rules. More than 25,000 people died on EU roads in 2017, the equivalent of two passenger planes crashing every week, killing everyone on board. The existing rules, which […]
Four pairs of engineering students from Italy, Lithuania and Poland have been recognised for projects to redesign and upgrade high-risk road infrastructure in the cities of Milan, Naples, Vilnius and Kraków. The students’ projects were delivered as part of YEARS (Young Europeans Acting for Road Safety), a Europe-wide project on the road safety of young people managed by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and the UK’s Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) with the support of the European Commission, the German Road […]
A new report by the European Transport Safety Council shows that road safety progress in the European Union has stagnated for the last four years. The organisation says governments need strong political will, urgent measures and substantial investments in safe infrastructure to reduce the 500 deaths that occur on EU roads every single week. The weekly number of road deaths in the EU is equivalent to two typical passenger airliners crashing and killing everyone on board. The latest Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) report […]
European Commission announces major package of road safety measures including new targets to cut road deaths and serious injuries in half by 2030; World’s most advanced new car safety standards will make life-saving technologies such as Automated Emergency Braking and overridable Intelligent Speed Assistance a standard feature on all new vehicles; currently these features are only available as an option on some models; Race on for proposals to be approved by 28 EU Member States and the European Parliament. Veuillez trouver ci-dessous la version […]
The European Commission has today published data showing that deaths on EU roads fell by just 2% last year, following a similar decrease in 2016 and a 1% increase in 2015. According to ETSC analysis, the EU target of cutting deaths by half in the decade to 2020 is now very unlikely to be reached. The EU28 collectively reduced the number of road deaths by 20% over the period 2010-2017, far less than the 38% cut needed to stay on course to meet the […]
More than 8,000 children aged 0-14 years have been killed in road traffic collisions over the last ten years in the European Union, new data show. Half of the children killed were travelling in cars, a third were walking and 13% were cycling, according to a report published today by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). One in every 13 child deaths in the European Union occurs as a result of a road collision. The European Commission is expected to announce a long-overdue update […]
New report shows more than 5000 deaths a year in EU still caused by drink-driving Member States asked to increase enforcement and introduce rehabilitation programmes for drink-driving offenders The EU should require alcohol interlocks to be fitted in all new professional vehicles and retrofitted to cars used by repeat drink-driving offenders. These are two of the main recommendations from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), authors of a new report looking at how to reduce the 5000 deaths still caused by drink-driving in the […]
The European Parliament says all new cars sold in Europe should be fitted as standard with a range of life-saving technologies including automated emergency braking, intelligent speed assistance and seatbelt reminders in all seats. Safety campaigners say the technologies could be as important as the seat belt, but action is needed now because it will take years before the majority of cars on the roads have the technology. Some 26,000 people died on EU roads last year, a figure that has hardly changed in […]
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has announced the 2017 winners of the PRAISE awards, in recognition of outstanding efforts taken by companies to improve road safety at work. The large company award goes to National Vehicle Distribution (NVD), a family-owned vehicle transportation and storage company in Ireland. The small and medium-sized enterprise award goes to ATF, a Belgian road construction company. Jacobs, one of the world’s largest construction services firms, has been highly commended by the award judges. The winners will be honoured […]
The European Parliament’s Transport Committee has called for new cars to be fitted as standard with a range of life-saving technologies including automated emergency braking, intelligent speed assistance and intelligent seatbelt reminders in all seats. In a non-binding resolution responding to a report by the European Commission, “Saving Lives: Boosting Car Safety in the EU”, adopted today in Brussels, the committee said “more effective measures” are needed, in order to reach a goal of “no fatalities”. Mandatory safety standards for new cars sold on the European […]
As EU road death figures stagnate, employers are essential to tackling road risk according to new report. Switzerland recognised with European award for long term progress on improving road safety. As new figures show road deaths in the European Union have not decreased in three years, a report from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) says employers, national governments and the European Union must step-up efforts to tackle the problem of work-related road risk. 25,671 lives were lost on the road in the European […]
European Union transport ministers have formally agreed to set a target of halving the number of serious injuries on roads in the EU by 2030 from their 2020 level. In ‘council conclusions‘ adopted today, ministers formally endorsed the Valletta declaration on improving road safety, issued at an informal meeting organised by the Maltese presidency on 29 March 2017. Ministers also called on the European Commission to come forward with a new road safety strategy for the decade 2020-2030. Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of ETSC, […]
A coalition of industry, NGOs, consumer groups and cities are calling on the European Commission to urgently bring forward new minimum safety standards for new cars, vans and trucks, after years of delays. The European Commission is expected to announce a new package of transport legislation next week, the groups are calling for an announcement on updates to vehicle safety regulations to be included. The letter from groups including the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA), the European Cyclists Federation (ECF), POLIS, the European […]
Valetta – The European Transport Safety Council has welcomed a call by the 28 EU ministers of transport for a long term target and action to cut serious injuries on European roads by 2030. In a declaration signed in the Maltese capital Valletta today, transport ministers recommitted to an existing EU target to halve roads deaths by 2020 and also promised long term targets for reducing deaths and, for the first time, serious injuries by half by 2030. Yesterday, the European Commission published new […]