WRITTEN QUESTION E-0806/02

by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(21 March 2002)

Subject: Road accidents in the EU

At the inauguration in Madrid of the Eleventh International Road Safety Congress, it was stressed that, every year in the EU, road accidents kill over 40 000 people and cause serious injuries to another 1,6 million. In view of these statistics, the work of bodies such as TISPOL (the European Traffic Police Network), based on the exchange of information between European traffic police forces, can make a useful and immediate contribution to road safety in the EU. What are the most recent data that the Commission can supply on trends concerning road accidents in towns and cities? Are all the EU's traffic police forces represented in TISPOL? To what extent can TISPOL's experience be transposed to third countries?

The number of motor vehicles in use in the EU is constantly rising, as the data of the last decade shows. This trend needs to be accompanied by higher standards of road safety; nonetheless, different rules continue to prevail for such crucial aspects as breath-testing and drug checks on drivers. To what extent does the Commission believe it necessary to harmonise the road safety codes and penalties operated by the Member States and the technologies and other means employed for purposes of road safety within the Union? What action has the Commission taken to put an end to a state of affairs in which road accidents are the biggest single cause of death among young Europeans aged between 14 and 25?

Answer given by Ms de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(6 May 2002)

Although the situation should certainly not be considered satisfactory, the drop in road accidents in the European Union is more marked in urban areas than in other areas. In particular, the number of road deaths in cities and towns has been falling more rapidly than elsewhere for a number of years.

Police forces from all Member States except Luxembourg, Austria and Portugal are currently represented in the Tispol Council (Traffic Information System Police, the European network of traffic police forces). Norway, Slovenia and Switzerland are also members of Tispol and yet other European countries are involved in operations initiated by Tispol. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have indicated that they were considering membership. In future, Tispol could play a role in improving road safety in the new Member States by the exchange of know-how and best practices, and by joint operations.

The Commission believes that harmonising certain regulations, penalties and controls, and adopting guidelines on best practices in the area of technologies and other means, are essential steps for making Europe's roads safer. For more information on the Commission's past and future initiatives, we invite the Honourable Member to refer to the chapter on unsafe roads in the White Paper on European transport policy(1).

As regards young people aged between 14 and 25, the Commission subsidised several awareness-raising campaigns in 2001, as it had done in previous years, specifically targeted at this population group. Actions carried out successfully at national or local level will be reviewed in 2002 in order to put together and circulate a guide on best practices.

In any case, road safety is, in all its aspects, a shared responsibility. The situation can only be substantially improved if all actors (users, transport undertakings, manufacturers, teachers, police forces), at all levels (Community, national, regional and local), are firmly resolved to take action.

(1) White Paper European transport policy for 2010: time to decide, COM(2001) 370 final.