Dublin and Lisbon lead way in cutting road deaths
ELITSA VUCHEVA
09.10.2008 @ 09:14 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Although the number of deaths caused by road accidents has been slowly decreasing in the past decade, no fewer than 24,000 people have died on the roads of the EU's 27 capitals alone, a new report has shown.
Dublin and Lisbon have reduced the number of accidents the most over the past two years – dropping respectively 12 and 10 percent per year, while in Helsinki, the figure has increased slightly, according to a survey published on Wednesday (8 October) by the European Transport Safety Council, a Brussels-based NGO.
Pedestrians are among the most vulnerable road users. (Photo: Kevin Connors)
Sofia, Bratislava, Madrid, Bucharest, Warsaw, Paris, Copenhagen and Tallinn have also noted a reduction in accidents above the EU average yearly cut of 4.1 percent.
Vienna, Brussels, Amsterdam, London and Rome have on the other hand not decreased the number by more than three percent.
"This latest study has demonstrated that the city authorities who had adopted strategic programmes have been most successful in making their cities safer and friendlier for their residents," said Graziella Jost, programme manager for the survey.
The paper also notes that the pace of cutting road crashes in cities has increased since the adoption of an EU target in 2001 to halve "the number of fatalities on our roads from 54,000 to 27,000" by 2010.
It encourages cities to adopt a "strategic approach to road safety" and take into consideration all kinds of road users, with the most "vulnerable" ones – pedestrians and cyclists – needing particular attention.
"One out of two road victims in capitals is either a pedestrian or a cyclist," according to the report.
Improving the quality of public transport and promoting 30 kilometre per hour speed limit zones in residential areas are some of the suggestions the NGO makes to boost road safety.
On Monday next week (13 October), a European Road Safety Day under the motto "Road Safety in our Cities" organised by the European Commission will be held in Paris.
