European Transport Ministers launched the “Valetta Declaration on Improving Road Safety” at a Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Valletta (Malta) today undertaking to put in place many measures to improve road safety across the EU[1].

They declared to continue and reinforce measures necessary to halve the road deaths in the EU by 2020 from the 2010 baseline”. They also committed ‘to take in account cycling and walking in mobility plans, safety policies and measures and, where feasible, consider the inclusion of dedicated infrastructure’ and, as part of urban mobility planning, ‘expanding and integrating reduced speed limits, such as 30km/h’. The ministers invited the Industry in collaboration with civil society also to develop and to promote advanced Intelligent Speed Assistance to reduce the effects of human errors when driving.

ECF Secretary General Bernhard Ensink, invited to address the ministers in Malta as rapporteur on the protection of vulnerable road users welcomed the ‘Valetta Declaration’. He called on the EU and the EU Member in his speech to encourage the modal shift to cycling, walking, and public transport as good safety practice, and to provide international comparative statistics for walking and cycling safety. He ended with a plea to implement Intelligent Speed Assistance in all motorized vehicles now.

“26,000 fatalities on our EU roads mean a moral obligation to implement better vehicle technology that is available already. Let’s help each other … not to kill each other on our roads!”

However the morning before the ministers meeting Commissioner Bulc announced the latest road fatality figures for the EU for 2016[2]. The latest fatality figures show a two per cent decrease in fatalities.

ECF road safety policy officer Ceri Woolsgrove said that

“Taking into account the slow down and even slight rise of 1% of fatalities the previous year this suggests that the EU target of cutting deaths by half in the decade to 2020 is becoming increasingly difficult and shows that we are entering a period of difficulty for EU road safety. This means the timing and importance of the Declaration is all the more important.”

Targets and goals were also called for by the ministers for Europe to achieve on road safety including “a new road safety policy framework for the decade after 2020” and “a target of halving the number of seriously injured in the EU by 2030”