eSafety Compendium

Further improvements in safety by these measures are becoming more and more difficultto achieve at a reasonable cost.The goal of the White Paper: 50% reduction of road fatalitiesThe price paid for mobility in Europe is too high. In 2000, road accidents killed over 40000 people in the European Union and injured more than 1.7 million.The directly measurable cost of road accidents is of the order of 45 billion €.Indirect costs are three to four times higher. The annual figure is put at 160 billion €,equivalent to 2% of the EU’s GNP.In September 2001 the European Commission presented the White Paper on EuropeanTransport policy for 2010 7 . In this paper the Commission set a very ambitious target forroad safety: a 50% reduction of road fatalities by 2010, which should bring the numberof deaths per year down to 20 000, and simultaneously bring down the number ofaccidents and injuries.The use of new technologies cannot achieve this target alone, although it can make animportant contribution. Other measures such as infrastructure improvements andenforcement of compliance with current safety measures make an extremely importantcontribution to overall road safety and must be implemented without delay. Thepenetration of new technologies to all vehicles will also take a long time, and even in thebest of cases will be incomplete by 2010.Acting at EU, national and local levelThe EU has a broad scope to act on road safety and has been active in the followingways since the late 1980s:• · Legislating where it has exclusive and shared responsibilities• · Promoting the use of financial instruments and support to create a market forsafety• · Encouraging best practice and information exchange• · Accident and injury data gathering and analysis• · Research and development towards future solutionsIn the light of subsidiarity and the responsibilities for different aspects of road safety,achieving the targets set in the White Paper cannot be the sole responsibility of theEuropean Union. Shared action encompassing all types of safety measures and all playersat the EU, national and regional level is needed. The European Strategy for a partnershipapproach and proposed measures for improving road safety are brought forward in theRoad Safety Action Plan 2002-2010 8 .7 White Paper European Transport Policy for 2010: time to decide, COM(2001) 370, 12.9.20018 Currently under preparation (DG Transport and Energy)Page 17 of 490