Further action needed on EU road deaths, says European Commission
Fewer people died on European roads last year, according to new road fatality figures from the European Commission but further action is needed to bring accident rates down further, says the EC.
One action could be to introduce driver safety, risk assessment and driver training initiatives and Fleet Logistics works with several suppliers to offer a range of services and solutions in this field to clients and prospects.
The preliminary EC data showed that there were around 25,100 fatalities in road accidents in the 28 countries of the EU in 2018; down 21% compared to 2010, but only 1% compared to 2017.
For the majority of Member States, the road fatality rate was below 60 deaths per million inhabitants in 2018. The EU countries with the best road safety results in 2018 were the United Kingdom (28 deaths/million inhabitants), Denmark (30/million), Ireland (31/million), and Sweden (32/million).
The countries with a higher-than-average decrease in road deaths from 2017 to 2018 were Slovenia (-13%), Lithuania (-11%), Bulgaria (-9%) and Slovakia and Cyprus (both -8%).
Although the figures confirm that European roads are the safest in the world, they also show that the EU is now off track to reach its target of halving the number of road deaths by 2020.
As such, the Commission says this underlines the need for action by Member States and the entire road safety community to deliver on the EU's strategic road safety action plan.
This will see a number of safety features mandated for all new vehicles from 2022 while risk mapping will be carried out for all motorways and for primary roads. Vulnerable road-users will have to be systematically taken into account in all safety assessments, audits and inspections.
EU Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, said: “We have been assertive and ambitious in tackling road safety, adopting a strategic action plan, concrete actions on vehicle and infrastructure safety, and a policy framework for the next decade.
“As we continue to work towards ‘Vision Zero’ – zero road deaths by 2050 - we are committed to working with all Member States, as well as the Parliament and road safety community, to provide a level of safety that EU citizens demand and deserve.”
Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the European Transport Safety Council, commented: “It’s very disappointing that road deaths in the EU hardly declined in 2018. This is now the fifth year in a row that hardly any progress has been made. However there are reasons to be optimistic for the future.
“EU member states will have to take bold action: increasing levels of enforcement, taking meaningful steps to address speeding, drink or drug driving and distraction and ensuring that vulnerable road users get the safe infrastructure they need, particularly in our towns and cities,” he said.
Previous studies by the ETSC have shown that an estimated 40% of all road deaths in Europe are work-related. That puts the onus firmly on companies to introduce more driver safety and driver training to improve standards.
Fleet Logistics works with a number of suppliers to offer a variety of driver safety and driver training initiatives, both online and offline, with this very intention in mind.
Current suppliers include Alert Driving, which makes over 30 high-impact driver training modules available, with courses on eco-driving, lane discipline, winter driving, safer parking, reversing, and much more.
AlertDriving provides global training coverage in more than 70 countries across the world - primarily through its trademark FleetDefenseSM suite of driver training solutions, which test drivers for dangerous behaviours and attitudes.
The results provide fleet managers and other company decision-makers with behavior-based metrics and standardized risk reporting to help monitor their overall fleet risk exposure, and identify areas in which remedial intervention needs to be taken to improve driving standards.
Fleet Logistics also works with Applied Driving Techniques (ADT), based in Southern England, which offers a variety of driver and fleet safety management services, including licence monitoring, driver risk assessments, in-vehicle training, fleet safety management reviews, blended learning and ‘applied companion’ artificially intelligent fleet solutions.
ADT, which operates in Europe, North America and Australasia, is also a member of the European Transport Safety Council and has chaired a series of seminars to promote the sharing of best practice in global road safety.
Rik Roesch, Manager International Networks at Fleet Logistics, said: “We often find that the driver training conversation starts with the HR department rather than the fleet manager, who may not see the value in it and view it as a cost increasing rather than a cost cutting initiative.
“However the benefits of correctly carried out driver training and risk assessment programmes are well documented and can bring reductions in fuel costs, lower accident costs and improved employee safety. We are happy to discuss these benefits with any of our clients or prospects,” he said.
If you require any further information or advice on introducing driver safety training, please get in touch via email at info@fleetlogistics.com.