Governments need to do more on work-related road safety: ETSC

12.00 | 20 June 2017 | | 1 comment



As many as four in 10 road deaths across Europe could be work-related, a new report has found.

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) report, published today (20 June), says that while the exact number is unknown, detailed analysis suggests that of the 25,671 lives lost on EU roads in 2016, up to 40% were work-related.

On the back of new figures which show road deaths in the European Union have not decreased in three years, ETSC says employers, national governments and the European Union must step-up efforts to tackle the problem of work-related road risk.

ETSC has identified ‘improved data collection’ as a ‘crucial first step’ – as many police forces in EU countries do not currently register the purpose of the journey when recording the details of a traffic collision.

ETSC also bemoans the lack of a standardised EU definition of a work-related road death, suggesting this leads to an ‘underestimation of the scale of the problem’.

Antonio Avenoso, executive director of ETSC said: “While there are some great examples of large and small organisations across Europe starting to take road safety seriously, there are thousands more that turn a blind eye to the risks their employees take every day on the roads.

“Many companies also wrongly see road risk management as a burden rather than an opportunity. But reducing risks through journey management, targeted training and purchasing safer vehicles can cut insurance costs, lead to less time off and boost a company’s image.

“While employers need to do more, our report also shows that they need help and support from national governments and the EU to do it.”

The report also calls for government and public authorities to ‘lead by example’ and adopt work-related road safety management programmes for their employees and fleets, and include vehicle safety in public procurement requirements.


Want to know more about driving for work and road safety?
Online library of research and reports etc – visit the Road Safety Knowledge Centre
Key facts and summaries of research reports – visit the Road Safety Observatory

Comments

Comment on this story

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Report a reader comment

Order by Latest first | Oldest first | Highest rated | Lowest rated

    I’ve always thought work-related collisions to be a bit of a red herring – after all, road users are usually going somewhere, for different reasons. A driver can be just as impatient or careless or reckless on a private journey, as on a work-related journey e.g. running late for the school pickup, hospital appointment, funeral(!) – any journey where a driver is under pressure can lead to a collision.


    Hugh Jones, Cheshire
    Agree (0) | Disagree (0)
    0

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close