EU Road Safety Exchange
Twelve EU Member States are joining forces to share smart ideas for improving road safety, as part of a new EU-funded project. Although European roads are the safest in the world and although road safety has improved greatly in recent decades, the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads is still far too high. In 2018, there were over 25,000 fatalities in road accidents. While this is a decrease of 21% compared to 2010, it represents only a 1% decrease compared to 2017.
There are important differences in the road safety performance of the different EU Member States. The three-year EU Road Safety Exchange project aims to tackle these disparities and will link up experts from Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden.
Transport experts from the twelve participating countries will work together to share best practice on reducing speed, building safe infrastructure and improve enforcement, data collection, as well as the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in urban areas.
EU Road Safety Exchange is funded by the European Parliament and led by the European Commission. The project is managed by ETSC on behalf of the European Commission.
Latest News
The city of Paris will extend 30 km/h limits to cover the entire city from 2021, and has launched a public consultation on the measure. The move puts into effect an election promise of the mayor Anne Hidalgo. Paris has had 30 km/h limits covering a wide area for several years, but it will now be the default speed everywhere except the ring road and pedestrianised areas. Grenoble, Lille and Nantes have made similar moves to 30 km/h default limits in recent years. In […]
The Spanish government is planning to lower the drink-driving limit for professional and novice drivers to 0.2 g/l – down from 0.3 g/l. The move would bring Spain into line with several other countries – as it is currently the only country with a 0.3 g/l limit for any class of driver. In Europe, novice and professional drivers are often subject to lower limits than other drivers – and many countries have zero tolerance for these groups, or for all drivers. https://etsc.eu/blood-alcohol-content-bac-drink-driving-limits-across-europe/
Both Austria and Germany are in the process of changing traffic laws to increase penalties for speeding. The Austrian transport minister said last month that fines for speeders could be doubled and confiscation of vehicles could become an option in extreme cases, such as when those sanctioned continue driving after a ban. Driving bans will also be doubled in length in some cases. The announcement was welcomed by ETSC’s Austrian member KFV. Meanwhile political negotiations over reforms to traffic laws in Germany are ongoing […]
A new speed enforcement sign in Poland warns drivers of their current speed as well as the fine and penalty points they could expect to receive if they get caught. The sign has been installed with support from the local police and local authority near a primary school in the district of Lipsko in the province of Mazovia. Od kilku dni nad bezpieczeństwem uczniów PSP w Chotczy Józefów czuwa radarowy wyświetlacz prędkości, który został zainstalowany przy szkole https://t.co/QTlTPNiEnR. Urządzenie to ma charakter prewencyjno-edukacyjny. pic.twitter.com/uYHZfNr4NI […]
Two European countries that have so far prohibited e-scooters are taking very different approaches to permitting their use. Earlier this summer, the UK government cut short a public consultation on e-scooters and brought forward trials of rental schemes as part of its response to the Covid-19 pandemic and worries over increased car use and reduced use of public transport. The privately operated rental schemes in the UK trial mirror those set up in a number of countries in recent years. ETSC’s UK member PACTS […]
Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia and Portugal have reduced road deaths the most since 2010 Estonia to receive the 2020 European Transport Safety Council Road Safety Performance Index Award Road deaths in Malta, the Netherlands and the UK were higher in 2019 than in 2010 EU “almost certain to miss” 2020 target to halve road deaths 17 June 2020 Brussels – The Baltic States, together with Greece and Portugal, were the best performing countries in the EU according to a new report on the progress […]
Emmanuel Barbe, the outgoing French road safety chief, says 336 deaths were prevented over the 18-month period since the introduction of a lower 80 km/h on single-carriageway rural roads in France. Mr Barbe also criticised the “shameful” vandalism that led to large numbers of speed cameras being put out of action by the yellow vest movement. Without that damage, the figures for deaths prevented would have been higher, he said. An analysis report published last month by researchers at Cerema found that, thanks to […]
The Netherlands will introduce a daytime motorway speed limit of 100 km/h across the country from the second half of March, while Luxembourg will reduce speeds to 90 km/h during peak hours, following a successful trial. The Dutch measure is designed to help the country cut nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx), a big problem particularly with older diesel vehicles. However, Dutch motorways, a large number of which have 130 km/h limits, will also be safer at the lower speeds. Motorway deaths in the Netherlands reached […]
The Prime Minister of Poland has announced that the country’s anomalous night-time 60 km/h speed limits in urban areas will soon be scrapped, as part of a new package of road safety measures. Poland is the only country in Europe with different speed limits in urban areas during the day and at night. The speed limit will be changed to 50 km/h at all times. Hungary, which reduced its urban speed limit from 60 to 50 km/h in 1993, saw a reduction in mean […]
The Dutch alcohol interlock programme was twice as effective as other sanctions at reducing recidivism, and the effects continued after participation in the scheme, according to new research by the Dutch Ministry of Justice research centre (WODC). According to the researchers, 4% of those who followed the programme were re-convicted of a drink-driving offence within two years, compared to 8% for a control group who faced other sanctions. An education programme for drink-driving offenders had a recidivism rate of 7%, compared to 9% for […]