ETSC marks 20th anniversary with focus on road safety

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has marked its 20th anniversary with a call for more to be done to improve safety on Europe’s roads.

The ETSC was formed in 1993 by three founding members – the German Road Safety Council, the Dutch Safety Board and the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) – in a move to address growing concerns about transport safety in Europe.

Antonio Avenoso, ETSC executive director, said: “We have seen encouraging progress, particularly in reducing the annual numbers of road deaths, but we should still remind ourselves of the major task at hand.

“The two EU targets for reducing the number of road deaths, for 2010 and 2020, which were strongly supported and advocated by ETSC, have been very useful in concentrating and highlighting efforts to improve road safety.

“The Road Safety PIN, the ETSC flagship project, has been identifying well-performing countries since 2006 and widely sharing good practice in tackling road safety challenges.

“Yet, even if the EU target was reached, some 15,000 people would still die on the roads in 2020. This should remind all of us that improving transport safety requires constant efforts, and gains are only sustainable if policy efforts are maintained.”

Herman De Croo, ETSC chairman, added: “Today we mark 20 years of concerted advocacy efforts, both by the ETSC in Brussels and its member organisations throughout Europe.

“It is important to acknowledge the work of our members and experts, as without them the ETSC could not exist. With 46 organisations currently taking an active role in our work, it is certain that ETSC is an established source of independent and impartial advice to policy and decision-makers in Europe.”

Click here to read the full ETSC news release.