European Transport Ministers conference on Road Security , Verona 25 and 26 october 2004
"Estracts from the Ministerial Conference of Ministers of European Transport"
Last year, during the Italian Presidency of European Union, the Ministers of European Transport had a meeting in Verona to discuss Road Security. In that occasion a plan of action was approved, sealed with the signature of “Carta di Verona”, later at Bruxelles, with approvement of European Parlament, it became “Dichiarazione di Verona”, with the target to halve victims of road accidents within the year 2010.
For this target, the 25 and 26 october of this year, always in Verona, at Palazzo della Gran Guardia, there was a Conference of Ministers of European Transport organized by Italy, with the Minister o f Infrastructure and Transport Pietro Lunardi, and the Holland Presidency of European Union, rappresented from the Minister of Transport, of Public Works and of Water Management Karla Maria Henriette Peijs, to develop the road securities with four main points:
1- The improvement of road security
2- The possibility of finance for projects of road security
3- To put todays laws in to practice
4- Vehicles technologically more secure
The meeting helped to see the progress realized in the last year. It was taken in to consideration the main points to increase our level of road security to work out a plan for all of Europe. All of this is done to improve the level of Road Security. A special section was dedicated to “enforcement”, to discuss about how to intensify the actions on driving behaviour.It was also discussed the improvement of the security level of the roads, traffic and of all vehicles taking in consideration human errors. Finally it was taken into consideration the necessary resources to finance this program of road securities.
This year it was discussed the actions to carry out, the technics to use, the Goverment level and resources to engage.
The Ministers of the European United Countries, all of candidates countries and those which belong to EEA and EFTA, aware of the fact that road accidents create an unaccettable social and economic damage, because these are the cause of thousands of deaths, millions of injured, with a cost for the State, for the economy and for the families that in totale, in these Countries, is roughly 2,0% of the PIL;
they declare that the destruction of human lifes, the disablement, the suffering and the losses of wealth determined by the road accidents are unacceptable and they must be disputed with politics and investments specifically dedicated to the improvement of road safety with maximum priority;
confirmed the target to reach a reduction of the number of victims of 50% within 2010, in relationship to how much, pointed out by the "Program of action on the European road Safety: to half the number of the victims of the road accidents inside the European union within 2010: a shared responsibility" arranged by the European Committee and by the Council of the European Union,
found a generalized engagement to widen the participation and to intensify normatives program, professional and financial engagement dedicated to the road security,
considered also that the most recent data on the victims of the road accidents show a picture of diffused and important improvements but also the necessity of further efforts to reach the common objective to half the number of the victims in the countries that till now have had results less evident,
confirmed the appointment to develop multi-sectorial safety politics based on the cooperation and on the public-private collaboration, on the appointment to develop tools and structures that favor and facilitate exchange of experiences and the diffusion of the best practices between the national and regional Governments and the local Administrations of the Union of the European Countries, of the candidate Countries and the joined Countries of the SEE and of the EFTA,
they agree on the opportunity to focus the politics of road safety on four themes on the base of the indications of the actual Dutch Presidency and, particularly, of the Transports minister, of the Public Jobs and of the Dutch Waters Management, mrs. Karla Peijs and in particularly of Italy, the Italian minister of the Infrastructures and the Transports, Mr. Pietro Lunardi,
they draw a necessity to deepen the following four sectors of intervention on the road safety.
1- Improvement of the safety on the European roads
To emphasize the opportunity to develop a vast action of improvement of the safety on the European road net.
1.1 Individualization of the road where the greatest number of victims of road accidents are recorded and studies of the conditions and the risk factors on the base of standard and common and shared parameters that guarantee criterions of evaluation of the common risk for all the citizens of the European union, all of candidates countries and those which belong to EEA and EFTA.
1.2 Definition of programs of middle and long period aimed to determine a progressive increase of the road safety levels attributing the most elevated priority to the roads where the greatest number of victims of the road accidents, or the highest rate of accidents due to traffic situations.
1.3 Incentive of techniques maintenance programmed of the road net based with the use of GIS and innovating technologies for the control of the conditions of the roads, of the traffic and the number of accidents, finalized altogether to raise the safety level on the road net.
1.4 Realization of informative campaign aimed to assure a complete and accurate information to the citizens on road risk situations and to increase the awareness of the different factors of risk.
1.5 Realization of pilot projects to furnish specific information to the European road net drivers on the roads with most risk and on the most critical points (road signs of danger) up to their elimination through improvements of the road safety in these areas.
1.6 To encourage the industry, the operators, the organizations, the regional and local authorities to bind in concrete actions in the sector of road safety signing the European Document on the Road Safety.
2- Financial provisions to improve the road safety
The definition of the mechanisms of provisions of the financial resources to reserve to the investments in road security is of extreme importance for the concrete attainment of the objective to half the victims of the road within 2010. The measures that appear mainly profitable under this profile are the following.
2.1 To confirm the importance of the road security as necessary component in the stage of planning, construction, improvement, maintenance and financing of all roads, and to hold in full account in the organization of the financing of road works.
2.2 To consider the opportunity to reserve a percentage of the taxes on the vehicles, the highway tolls, the insurance premium, etc. in order to create a fund for the road security to use for the priority intervention of improvement of the road security.
2.3 To encourage the insurance companies to the institution of rewards for safe driving and stimulate for a safe use of the vehicle.
2.4 To estimate the possibility to employ a predetermined share of the administrative sanctions for carryng out programs for improvement of road security.
3- Better practices and application of the norms
The enforcement and the diffusion of the best practices constitutes two fundamental factors for the success of the political of road security whether European level or national, regional and local level.
3.1 The road circulation norms must be effective for the road security, credible for the motorist, and it must be guaranteed the application and the respect of these norms.
4- Improvement of the security of the vehicle
In the last few decades the motor industry has invested a lot in order to increase the security of the vehicle. But a lot can still be done in order to improve the security of the vehicles. In lack of this, the ambitious target inherent to the road security would not be attainable.
4.1 Many human lifes can be saved through new intelligent devices to integrated in the active and passive security systems. The ministers push the industry to diffuse them in the faster and wider way and also in an economical way and therefore sustainable for all the road users.
4.2 The knowledge of the causes of accidents and the possible benefits of the new technologies are insufficient. The governments and the European Commision (for the study of the road accidents) and the industry (for the technological evaluations) have a common responsibility in the improvement of this situation.
4.3 The ministers agree on the fact that the exchange of views between the industry and the governments on the future of the road security is essential to proceed. More specifically, the concessionaires of the roads have an important role in the realization of the intelligent road infrastructure and databases necessary to optimize the benefits that derive from the intelligent vehicles. The States Members, the European Commission and the industry will coordinate the intervention to create opportunity for a more intense collaboration.
4.4 As the environmental compatibility, the security of the vehicle is not always easy to propose to the client. The obligatory indication of the energetic saving, results of the Euro-NCAP tests, the introduction of fiscal advantages, informative demonstrations, are examples in which the governments can increase the knowledge of the client and support the sale of vehicles with high performances of security. The ministers would appreciate the exchange of views and experiences in this field.
4.5 Within the transport of merchandises an improvement of the indices of security will reduce the costs. This can be a good incentive to include the consideration of standards of vehicle security in the business strategies of security (the culture of security).
4.6 The authorities have an important role in promoting the istallations and the use of security instrumentations, including them in the criteria of choice for their vehicles.