The European Commission today unveiled a plan to halve the number of road fatalities over the coming decade, while revealing that more than 35,000 people were killed in road accidents last year despite safety improvements. "We have made good progress since 2001 and we have succeeded in saving nearly 80,000 lives. But the number of fatalities and injuries on our roads is still unacceptable," European Union transport commissioner Siim Kallas said in Brussels, according to dpa. The EU had set itself the same objective for the 2001-2010 period, but is only expected to achieve a 40-per-cent reduction in road deaths, according to commission estimates. Between 2001 and 2009 road deaths in the EU fell from 113 to 69 per million inhabitants. Latvia and Spain led the way, with declines in road fatality rates of 54 per cent and 53 per cent respectively. Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands had the best safety records, with less than 40 fatalities per million inhabitants, while Romania and Greece were at the other end of the scale, with 130. Kallas unveiled "seven strategic objectives" aimed at driving down the numbers by focusing on toughening standards for obtaining driving licences and paying more attention to motorcyclists. "It is one of the few areas where the number of fatalities has been going up rather than down," he said. The commissioner said he wanted regulation on introducing new technology on cars and trucks, such as electronic stability control to prevent skidding and lane departure warning systems. Kallas also suggested that poorer, Central and Eastern European countries should receive EU funding to upgrade their road networks only if designs comply with existing safety directives. In the region where a rise in car ownership was not matched by a sufficiently fast upgrade of Soviet-era infrastructure, road safety records were far worse between 2001 and 2009. Kallas also vowed to crack down on the problem of EU drivers avoiding speeding and traffic light fines when driving in another member state, due to poor coordination between national police agencies. "This should not happen, we must enforce the rules everywhere," he said, adding that during the current six-month Belgian presidency of the EU "a step forward" would be made on the adoption of a directive addressing the issue, proposed by the commission in 2008. According to the commission, Italy and France - countries where traditionally lax attitudes to traffic rules have been challenged by stricter law-enforcement - also made big strides, with 48-per-cent and 43-per-cent reductions in road fatalities. Poland achieved only a 17-per-cent reduction, while fatalities actually increased by 14 per cent in Romania. Despite its progress, Latvia remained the fifth-most dangerous EU state to drive in, with 112 fatalities per million inhabitants, closely followed by Lithuania, with 110.
