WRITTEN QUESTION E-1565/01 by Ewa Hedkvist Petersen (PSE) to the Commission. Inaccurate statistics on alcohol-related accidents.
Date: 2001-05-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: alcoholism, database, research project, road safety, statistical method, statistics, transport accident

11.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 350 E/191

projected facilities, all of which would have less impact. Despite the opposition of La Coruæa City Council
and Galician and Spanish national environmental and nature conservation NGOs, the on-site preparations
have begun, producing nothing short of an environmental disaster in an area of approximately six hectares
within a zone in the immediate vicinity of the reservoir water (up to the water(cid:146)s edge) by destroying
vegetation, making the ground uneven, and altering the direction of the springs and watercourses that flow
into the wetland.

No environmental impact assessment has been conducted on the project, and the work carried out to date
has gone ahead without planning permission even though the site is under threat from various forms of
environmental aggression, namely:

(a) physical aggression (permanent structures and possible urban development of the area);

(b) aggression inflicted on the aquatic environment in both senses of the word, i.e. the wetland and the
city water supply storage area, stemming from the use of weedkillers and other chemicals on the 10
football pitches and from the sewage that will be generated by the thousands of likely visitors; and

(c)

the massive influx of people who will not be coming to the area with the intention of observing the
natural environment.

Does the Commission think it right that, to accommodate a football club(cid:146)s sports centre, part of an area
belonging to the Natura 2000 network should be destroyed and the area as a whole placed in severe
jeopardy?

Could it investigate whether the legislation on environmental impact assessment has been observed?

(1) Source: Autonomous Government of Galicia, Ministry of the Environment

(http://www.xunta.es/conselle/cma/

CMA05e/CMA05eb/p05eb06.htm).

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(16 July 2001)

The Commission was not aware of the project the Honourable Member is referring to.

The Commission cannot comment at this stage on the possible destruction of the site designated by the
authorities for inclusion in the Natura 2000 network. According to the information at the Commission(cid:146)s
disposal, the designated site only contains the reservoir referred to in the question.

The Commission will therefore, in the next 10 days, send the Spanish authorities a request for information
on the reported situation so that it can check that Community legislation is being properly applied in this
particular case.

(2001/C 350 E/207)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1565/01

by Ewa Hedkvist Petersen (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Inaccurate statistics on alcohol-related accidents

(29 May 2001)

The fact that drinking and driving causes a large number of serious accidents every year is nothing new.
The question is whether we know the extent to which alcohol
is actually involved in accidents. A
Commission report on alcohol, drugs and road safety shows that in Italy, for example, only 1 % of
accidents are alcohol-related, whereas in France the figure is 40 %. These differences are hardly plausible
and depend on which system the individual countries use to keep statistics. In Germany, for example,
whose own statistics record 20 % of all accidents as alcohol-related, no tests are carried out in accidents
involving a single vehicle. That type of accident normally accounts for the highest number of alcohol-
related fatalities, which would imply that the hidden statistics are very high in Germany. The problem with
inaccurate statistics is that decision-makers do not have a realistic basis for their decisions. There is then
a risk that the necessary measures to combat drink-driving are not taken.

C 350 E/192

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

11.12.2001

The official figures in Sweden do not reflect the reality particularly well either. Autopsies are performed on
almost 90 % of drivers who die in road accidents, during which samples of body fluids are taken and then
sent for analysis to the National Board of Forensic Medicine. When the data on fatal accidents is correlated
with the results of the analyses, the finding is that 19 % of Swedish drivers who died in accidents in 1999
had alcohol in their bodies. The official statistics for that year put the figure at 5,6 %! The reality, therefore,
is three times the figure given in the official statistics. We must also understand that not even that 19 % is
a true reflection of reality since some of those casualties survived the accident for a time, during which any
alcohol may have dissipated.

One reason for the faulty statistics in Sweden is that the official accident figures are based on police
accident reports. The possible influence of alcohol as a factor in the accident is based on police suspicion
that there was. In an accident, the police(cid:146)s main task is to prevent injury to anyone else and priority is
therefore given to the other traffic, which means that they very frequently fail to test the driver(cid:146)s alcohol
level.

What measures will the Commission take to remedy such statistical inaccuracies in the EU?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(17 July 2001)

Compiling accident statistics is a prerequisite for any effective road safety policy.

The Council therefore decided in 1993 to set up the European CARE database (1) on road accidents
involving personal injury. It is made up of data submitted annually by the Member States on the basis of
statements by the police officers working first-hand at accident scenes. Obviously, the police(cid:146)s prime
concern is to organise the emergency assistance and ensure the safety of other road users before dealing
with such administrative tasks as filling out statistical information forms. Forms generally give police the
option of indicating the probable cause of an accident. It is not however possible for the police officer to
take a blood sample from a person killed in an accident or an accident victim being taken to hospital.
Consequently, for many cases of serious personal injury the blood alcohol level is not recorded in the
national records and so is not included in the CARE database (2). The Commission is perfectly aware of the
shortcomings described by the Honourable Member.

The Commission has taken various forms of action to remedy the situation. It has, for instance, initiated
the CARE Plus project jointly with the Member States with a view to adopting standard terminology and
rules for the conversion of national data for input into the CARE database. The rules for data on alcohol
will come into force in the second half of 2001. Even so, the methodological problems will not be solved
immediately, and it goes without saying that the Commission will refrain from using any aggregate data
while there is still doubt as to its reliability.

the fourth Community framework programme for

In addition, under
research and technological
development, the Commission has supported the Stairs project commissioned to standardise methods for
in-depth accident inquiries to be carried out by multidisciplinary teams at the accident scene and in liaison
with hospitals and the law in order to identify in detail the causes of accidents and responsibility for them.
The conclusions of the Stairs project should be put into practice. A limited number (given the high cost) of
detailed enquiries will be sufficient to round out the information provided by the statistics. They will give
a qualitative appreciation which will shed light on the quantitative analysis provided by the CARE
database.

In the long term, the Commission also intends to encourage Member States to set up systems to enable
independent enquiries to be carried out in order to have the most accurate analysis possible of the causes
of accidents from which to draw operational conclusions.

Improving the CARE database is a long-term project. It is one of the operations which will be developed in
the Community road safety programme planned for 2002 to 2010 in order to provide the Community
with a valid road safety information system.

(1) Council Decision 93/704/EC of 30 November 1993 on the creation of a Community database on road accidents

(OJ L 329, 30.12.1993).

(2) See Commission Recommendation of 17 January 2001 on the maximum permitted blood alcohol content (BAC) for

drivers of motorised vehicles (OJ C 48, 14.2.2001).