ANEC welcomes European ministers committing to tackling deaths and serious injuries on EU roads
30 March 2017by anec -- last modified 30 March 2017
As part of an initiative of the Maltese Presidency of the Council, and the European Commission, European transport ministers on 29 March signed the Valetta Declaration on road safety during a High-Level Ministerial Conference held in Malta.
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EU-wide road safety statistics[2] show a fall of only 2% in the fatalities recorded last year. This small fall indicates that it is becoming ever more challenging to meet the target of halving road deaths by 2020. The European Commission also reports that 135.000 people were seriously injured on EU roads. The social costs (rehabilitation, healthcare, material damages, etc.) of road fatalities and injuries is estimated to be at least 100 billion euros annually.
ANEC welcomes the Valletta Declaration as a further move to improve road safety.
Stephen Russell, ANEC Secretary-General, said, "The statistics are not only figures: they reflect human tragedy and suffering. ANEC trusts the Valetta Declaration will reinvigorate action among Member States to reach the target of halving the number of road deaths between 2010 and 2020, and lead to an ambitious target to reduce the number of serious injuries".
ANEC is the European consumer voice in standardisation, defending consumer interests in the processes of technical standardisation and conformity assessment, as well as related legislation and public policies.
ANEC - the European consumer voice in standardisation