A number of ‘road safety champions’ – including the UK – experienced an increase in road casualties in 2011, according to a new report from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC).
The ETSC’s sixth PIN Report, which looks at Europe’s progress towards road casualty reduction, shows that 2011 was a year of mixed results, with several countries, including the UK, Netherlands and Germany, seeing an increase in road deaths after years of sustained reductions.
The report includes an analysis of the institutional and financial arrangements for road safety in each of the EU member states, with the UK receiving two red cards out of three. PACTS describes this as “a position that should give us cause for concern as we implement the Strategic Framework for Road Safety”.
Norway and Latvia top the ranks for reduction in road deaths between 2010 and 2011, followed by Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Denmark, Ireland and the Czech Republic – all of whom achieved reductions of more than 10%.
It is always interesting when statistics (which, of course, can prove or disprove almost anything) are mentioned in terms of this or that road being safe. In turn I crease the proverbial and somewhat cynical eyebrow at the fairly cyclical analysis at which roads in Britain are safe or unsafe. As we know, It is not the roads which are or are not safe but the drivers which use them. In reality what it really means is that certain roads will be more inclined to show up driver vulnerability; it’s their inability to manage more challenging road conditions but, it’s not actually the roads themselves which are unsafe. Drivers just need to be better and this comes down ot a basic understanding of what being safe on the road really means, not only in the general public but, in my view, quite often in road safety as a whole.
Nigel Albright, TAUNTON
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Honor
I challenged some of the claims coming out of ETSC, particularly in the area of the effectiveness of speed management interventions. They were unable to provide answers and became very tetchy. Not what I would expect from a honourable safety body. As has been stated many times on this forum, many of the so-called scientific papers do not withstand mild scrutiny and are often written by academics with vested interests in the conclusions. Dave Finney is spot on with his assessment.
Eric Bridgstock, Independent Road Safety Research, St Albans
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It is rather disreputable to cast aspersions on the ETSC when half a second on Google will tell you that: “ETSC is a Brussels-based independent non-profit making organisation dedicated to reducing the numbers of deaths and injuries in transport in Europe. Founded in 1993, ETSC provides an impartial source of expert advice on transport safety matters to the European Commission, the European Parliament, and Member States. It maintains its independence through funding from a variety of sources including membership subscriptions, the European Commission, and public and private sector support for various activities.
“ETSC seeks to identify and promote effective measures on the basis of international scientific research and best practice in areas which offer the greatest potential for a reduction in transport crashes and casualties. It provides factual information in the form of scientific reports, fact sheets and newsletters in support of high safety standards in EU harmonisation, the take up of best practice and transport safety research. ETSC also organises several conferences yearly, including the European Transport Safety Lecture, Road Safety PIN Conference and the European Transport Safety Lunches.”
Their research is independent, published, accredited and open to peer review.
Honor Byford, North Yorkshire
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Is the ETSC a political pressure group?
The report shows (p16) that the UK has the safest roads, yet we get 2 red cards. This seems to be because the UK is not doing what the authors want us to do. Eg, we haven’t set targets (p28), the Police are too good at targeting drunk drivers (p35) and we don’t fine enough people for speeding (p34).
The ETSC are also the group that published the worryingly selective report on German Autobahns. Perhaps we should be very cautious with their findings?
Dave Finney – Slough
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Congratulations to those countries who have made great strides forward in casualty reduction, however perhaps many are nearer their high base line than the UK. Road casualty stats rising in the UK is a most unfortunate but not entirely unexpected event. Despite our best efforts in road safety (which should be well funded to continue vigorously), the law of “diminishing returns” and the randomness of some collisions are an all-to-stark reminder that we are not in full control of this inherently unsafe area we call a road. Human nature will sometimes throw up circumstances with tragic consequences. Let’s hope and continue working to see the downward trend return to UK road casualty stats again. No time for complacency nor castigation.
Pat, Wales
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Brian’s ‘Roost’ and ‘Chickens’, seems very appropriate but, Robert Gifford’s, “This report highlights our failure to set a robust target or to have a plan with objectives and timescales’, just seems like more political waffle to me. The mechanism for seriously reducing road crashes is already there. It just needs the political will (and probably courage) to act on it. Brian Hogarth’s remarks, ‘but not until political will from Central Government becomes apparent – no sign of that, I’m afraid’, is also spot on the mark, in my opinion. However, if Robert Gifford is genuinely serious in his statement let’s see if PACTS is seriously up to the task – and it would be best if road safety was not motivated by comparative figures but, just the need to reduce crashes and therefore death and serious injury, let along the collateral effect psychologically on others (family members et al).
Nigel Albright, TAUNTON
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Do these statistics take into account the rise in population and other factors such as weather conditions? If they don’t, then they are flawed. More fundamentally, it’s time someone stood up and said what the sensible limitations are of road safety efforts. It may not be ‘acceptable’ that road accidents and road deaths persist, but it is inevitable and we should accept this and allow it to provide a check and balance to our actions.
Doug Harris, England, UK.
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I must amplify my previous comment.
Until about 2 years ago the level and design of educational interventions in casualty reduction in UK was certainly some of the finest in the world. Here in France, as far as I can see, the corresponding measures are what we would have considered adequate in the 50s and 60s. Local Authority Road Safety Teams were prominent in these programmes. During the last two years a lot have this has been lost. It will take a much hard work to recover the situation – but not until political will from Central Government becomes apparent – no sign of that, I’m afraid.
Brian Hogarth
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“Roost” and “Chickens” comes to mind.
Brian H. Road Safety GB
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