Every Accident is One Too Many Every Accident is One ... - UNECE

Chapter 2
• Local authorities, counties, and local road safety
committees are encouraged to adopt the vision ‘Every
accident is one too many’ and to use this vision when
preparing action plans on road safety and carrying out
specific and concrete efforts to promote road safety on
the basis of their own problems, needs, and resources.
• Road safety efforts are to concentrate on four central
and highly visible key areas: accidents involving speeding,
accidents involving drivers under the influence of
alcohol, accidents involving cyclists, and accidents at
road junctions.
• Research, development and accumulation of knowledge
on road safety and road user behaviour - including
choice of transportation - must be promoted and
intensified. This is particularly important in terms of
identifying the opportunities offered to road safety in
Denmark by new intelligent road and vehicle systems.
Background
In 1988, the Road Safety Commission issued the Action
Plan for Road Safety, also known as the ‘green’
recommendations. This action plan helped to set the
agenda for road safety efforts in Denmark throughout the
1990s.
The action plan set the overall target that the number of
deaths and injuries on Danish roads was to be reduced by
at least 40 per cent by the end of 2000 when compared to
the basis year, which was the average statistics for 1986/
87 (711 deaths, 12.707 injuries). These targets meant that
by the end of 2000, the corresponding figures were not to
exceed 427 deaths and 7,624 injuries.
In 1998, a total of 499 people were killed on Danish roads,
a figure which corresponds to a reduction of approximately
30 per cent when compared to 1986/87 statistics. The
number of injuries dropped by approximately 28 per cent
during the same period.
The preliminary figures for 1999 are not significantly
different from the 1998 accident statistics. This is to say
that there are many indications that we will have achieved
a reduction of approximately 30 per cent in the number of
deaths and injuries as the first action plan period expires.
The Road Safety Commission action plan has served as a
source of inspiration to all who work to promote road
safety in Denmark - ministries, directorates, and agencies;
counties and local authorities; the police; and various
organisations.
When the accident rates on Danish roads began to
increase again in the mid-1990s, the Road Safety
Commission issued the Strategy Plan 1995-2000, which
called upon all stakeholders and players to prepare action
plans for road safety. Many local authorities and counties
took up this challenge. All counties and more than half of
all Danish local authorities have established specific
targets for road safety and prepared road safety action
plans.
Years lost before the age of 75, by gender and cause of death - Denmark, 1996
Cause of death
Years lost
Men
Women
Ischaemic heart disease 1 24.500 8.300
Lung cancer 14.200 11.200
Suicide 15.100 5.300
Road accidents 13.200 3.900
Accidents at home, etc. 11.400 3.400
Breast cancer 13.100
Cirrhosis of the liver 8.500 3.700
Bronchitis 4.700 6.200
1
Heart disease due to reduced distribution of blood and oxygen to heart musculature
Source: The Danish Government’s Public Health Programme 1999-2008
Figure 2: Years lost before the age of 75 in Denmark, 1996
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