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

Summary
The Road Safety Commission’s new national objectives for road safety - ‘Every accident is one
too many - Road safety starts with you’ - replaces the 1988 Action Plan.
The new objectives represent a desire to develop an
overall, common vision for Danish road safety efforts, as
well as a desire to set a total national target for a reduction
in the number of road accidents.
The Vision: ‘Every accident is one too many’
The vision entitled ‘Every accident is one too many’ was
launched in the Danish Government’s Action Plan on road
safety. It is to constitute the common overall vision for all
stakeholders and players within Danish road safety. This
vision sets a course towards a future road system without
any road accidents whatsoever and retains focus on
preventive measures. Thus, the objective of all initiatives
will be to prevent road accidents.
The vision makes demands on national and local
authorities, enterprise management and employees, as
well as individual road users. At the same time, it is
necessary to discuss a redistribution of responsibilities and
roles - both for road users and for those stakeholders and
players who design and operate our road and traffic
systems.
This vision means that all authorities - national and local -
are under an obligation to do their level best in all
planning, design, construction, and maintenance of traffic
facilities to prevent road accidents.
Objectives for road safety in Denmark
The number of people killed or seriously injured on Danish
roads must be reduced by at least 40 per cent during the
next twelve years. The basis for calculations is 1998
statistics. This is to say that in 2012, the number of persons
killed in traffic must not exceed 300, and the number of
serious injuries must not exceed 2,443.
In these objectives, emphasis is placed on those killed and
severely injured. This represents a change in relation to
previous declarations of intent, as the Road Safety
Commission considers that, in view of current accident
statistics, every effort must be made during the next twelve
years to reduce the number of serious road accidents. This
does not mean that measures directed against less serious
accidents will be forgotten. Indeed, it is often the case that
the instruments and tools needed to reduce the number of
serious accidents have a knock-on effect on less serious
incidents.
The objectives are deemed ambitious, yet realistic. Indeed,
Sweden - and to a certain extent United Kingdom and
Norway - boast a level of road deaths per inhabitant which
is approximately 40 per cent lower than ours. Not only does
Denmark have more deaths in road accidents per
inhabitant than Norway and Sweden, we also lose more
man-years to road accidents, as more children, young
people, and young road users are killed in Denmark than in
our Scandinavian sister countries.
The objectives are to be met irrespective of any growth in
traffic and for all groups of road users. When evaluating
the efforts made, however, the Road Safety Commission
will place particular emphasis on those groups of road
users who remain at high risk: cyclists, pedestrians, and
children/young people.
The Road Safety Commission
The Road Safety Commission was established by the Ministry of Transport and is composed of members of
parliament, representatives from ministries, counties, local authorities, and institutions with interests in road safety.
The task of the Road Safety Commission is to propose road safety initiatives to reduce the number of road
accidents.
The Road Safety Commission shall:
• Set the overall central goals for road safety initiatives that can act as signposts for efforts from other parties.
• Inspire interested parties to enhance their efforts, and new players to implement initiatives to promote road safety.
• Monitor closely nationwide developments in accidents and carry out regular assessments of road safety with a view
to identifying where there are needs for stronger initiatives.
• Identify new areas requiring initiatives.
Figur 1. Compositions and tasks of the Road Safety Commission
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