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European Union and Road Safety
In the European Union (EU) on the average 1 million 300
thousand traffic accidents occur a year, where these
accidents cause 40.000 fatalities and 700 thousand people's
injury. Impact of these accidents over economy is 160 million Euro (estimated
to correspond to 2 per cent of the EU Gross National
Product). (For EU Road Safety site please
click)
EU and Road Safety
In the European Union (EU) on the average 1 million 300
thousand traffic accidents occur a year, where these
accidents cause 40.000 fatalities and 700 thousand people's
injury. Impact of these accidents over economy is 160 million Euro (estimated
to correspond to 2 per cent of the EU Gross National
Product).
Euopean Commission, in the White Pages of the European
Transport Policy, suggested to target reducing the loss of
lives in traffic accidents by half until 2010 in Europe. All
the EU Member States face similar problems related to road
safety:
“Excess speed, driving impaired by alcohol, not wearing
seat-belts, lack of proper protection system in vehicles,
black-spots, non-compliant driving and rest times.”
EU defined the solution to this problem as “improving
road users' behaviour":
“Organisation of continuous training programmes for drivers
and professional drivers, improving traffic controls,
supporting education and awareness campaigns for the road
users and in this way, facilitating enforcement of
regulations to ensure improvement of road users' behaviour.”
“The main factor causing traffic accidents is violation
of traffic rules by the drivers". The Commission, for
this reason, prioritises the awareness campaigns about use
of helmets and seat-belts, obeying the speed limits and
leaving driving under the influence of alcohol. At the same
time, the Commission is working on improvement of the
Directive on driving licenses to determine the minimum
driving skills.
The main measures foreseen by EU are as follows:
“Promoting use of helmet by the cyclists and all two-tyre
motored vehicle users, continues special studies for young
drivers, regulating penalties including the international
transporters, classification and labelling of drugs that
impair driving and developing best practices for enforcement
issues e.g. police controls.”
For EU transportation policies and road safety approach,
please
click:
EU and Road Safety in Our Country
The programmes and projects funded by EU in the northern
part of Cyprus, are developed in six strategic areas, based on a
Traffic Safety Study conducted:
 Organisational
Structure
Data
Collection
Regulatory
Structure and Enforcement
Road
Safety Education
Infrastructure
Traffic Operations
The Traffic Safety Improvement Programme (TSIP) is the
mechanism whereby the measures proposed to improve traffic
safety conditions in the northern part of Cyprus will be
implemented.
 These
measures have been grouped into individual projects
on the above six strategic areas:
1. The Organisational Structure
This project is aimed at outlining a new structure for the
Traffic Safety Commission and involves mainly the Traffic
Safety Commission Members.
2. Accident Information System
This project comprises
set up of an Accident Information System with the
facility of making detailed accident analysis and
identifying black spots. This project also comprises
training in data collection, accident analysis and
consequently campaigning and enforcement. This project
involves mainly the Traffic Police.
3. Vehicle Inspection and Licensing
This project aims at
setting up a regulatory framework and new structures for
vehicle inspection and licensing. It involves in the
northern part of Cyprus, primarily the local bodies
responsible for Finance, Internal Affairs, Vehicle
Inspection Centres and Driving Schools.
4. Road Safety Education
This project
introduced by this web-site aims at developing and executing
broader campaigns and involves training and public
relations. The project mainly involves the Mass Media, NGOs, the Traffic Safety Commission
and its Sub-committee on Education, research and Awareness.
5. Primary Road Network
This project comprises
development of a National Highway Road Safety Plan and
the remediation of accident-prone road sections and black
spots. It involves in the northern part of Cyprus, the local bodies
responsible for Public Works, Transport and Highways.
6. Traffic Operation
This project comprises development of an Urban Traffic
Safety Management Plan for 3 cities. It also comprises
specific measures for increasing traffic safety in urban
areas. This involves in the northern part of Cyprus, the
Municipalities and the local body responsible for Internal
Affairs.
Road Safety is a global problem:
3 thousand people die a day in the world!
According to the UN,
because of
traffic accidents
each
year
1 million
300
thousand
people
die
worldwide,
namely 3
thousand
people
a day!
And
more than half
is
pedestrian
deaths.
20
to 50
million
people
get injured
due to
road accidents.
90
percent of fatalities
in traffic accidents
around the world
occur in
low
and middle income countries,
which have less than
half
of the number of
registered
vehicles
in the world.
United
Nations
estimates, if immediate
and
effective
measures
are not taken,
traffic
accidents
will be causing 2.4
million
deaths
per year,
and
in this way, would be
at 5th place at rank of major causes for death.
The economic
dimension
of the accidents
is also a significant burden.
It is estimated that lack of road
safety
causes
$
500 billion
economic loss
worldwide and
this corresponds to 1-3 per cent of the total GDP of
countries.
So
reducing road accidents and fatalities will help growth and
effective utilisation of resources.
In the
10-Year
Action
Plan for road safety,
the United
Nations
mentions that
injuries
in traffic accidents
are
preventable,
and
"Experience
shows that,
a leading
institution
with
adequate
funding
and
a national
road safety
plan
and a strategy with measurable
targets
can generate a sustainable solution for road safety".
The effective
measures
in this area
are
referred
as follows:
- Including road safety measures in road operations and
transportation planning,
- Designing safer roads and requiring independent road
safety audits for the new construction projects,
- Improving vehicle safety and effective speed management,
- Developing and enforcing regulations on the compulsory use
of safety-belt, helmet and child restraints,
- Regulating and enforcing the limitations on the alchol
level in blood for drivers,
- Improvement of care services for the road accident
victims.
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