ETSC welcomes Horizon 2020, the new financial instrument running from 2014 to 2020 with an €80 billion budget. The new proposal recognises that: “Although the necessary investments in research, innovation and deployment will be significant, failing to improve the sustainability of transport will result in unacceptably high societal, ecological, and economic costs in the long term.” For road safety, the annual death and serious injury on Europe’s roads carries a heavy cost and burden to our society. Investing in research and development to prevent these collisions from occurring in the first place must be a priority in the Horizon 2020. It is recognised that safety issues are common in the EU and that an EU wide collaborative approach is needed. The draft regulation also cites the new goal set in the Transport White Paper to: “move towards the target of zero fatalities in road transport by 2050.” Section 4.2.4 sets out some of the priorities for future research and development in the area of road safety. ETSC’s comments are presented in this Position Paper. (Author/publisher)
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