This report presents the outcomes of the interim evaluation of the Policy orientations on road safety 2011-2020. The evaluation takes stock of EU road safety actions completed between 2011 and March 2015 within this policy framework. It assesses the progress made towards the target of reducing the number of road fatalities by 50% until 2020. The evaluation is based on data from the EU road accidents database CARE, on a technical study by a road safety expert, on information from external stakeholders and on findings from a wide literature review. It presents indications of the level of EU relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and added value in the road safety area. The number of road fatalities in the EU is decreasing. Safety is improving especially for the young people and for motorised road users. This evaluation study shows that EU actions very likely have contributed to this reduction. The strategic road safety target remains relevant and challenging. However, in order to reach the fatality target by 2020, a higher annual decrease rate is needed from this point onwards. This means that additional effort on EU and national level need to be considered. Actions by Member States are more likely to have quick enough effect to impact on the road safety performance before 2020. EU actions within the framework have to be continued, not least to prepare the ground for road safety progress in the longer term. Nevertheless, the fatality target only covers part of the road safety problem. The strategic target and the actions under the Policy orientations are not seen to sufficiently tackle the large number of serious road traffic injuries. Monitoring of injury reduction at EU level is weak. The number of serious injuries is not decreasing as rapidly as the road deaths and for every person killed on the roads another 8-9 people are reported to have sustained serious injury. It is concluded that the road safety policy framework is in essence still relevant and complete. It addresses all major road user groups and current main problems. In the time ahead, there needs to be a continued focus both on motorised road users (the majority of the road fatalities) and on the vulnerable road users (for which fatality rates have decreased less than average). The evaluation concludes that the EU road safety work is generally on the right track. Continued efforts are needed to reach the strategic target. Several actions under the Policy orientations remain to be completed and followed-up. However, no major changes of the main structure of the work seem to be called for at this point. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting