The European motor vehicle industry is of the utmost importance to the economy of the European Union. The industry, though, is facing several challenges as a consequence of the downturn in the world economy. In addition changes in the car distribution system in the EU are under discussion. The industry also has to meet increasing demands concerning emissions and, in particular, road safety. The rapid technological changes are an additional challenge. But they are also as a great opportunity to further improve the vehicles, to decrease harmful effects of traffic, and to improve customer services. During the last decade, the European Commission and Member States have been promoting measures to improve road safety through both accident prevention and injury reduction. Most of the accident prevention measures have focused on the driver. Measures to reduce the consequences of an accident have primarily focused on the vehicle, through improved passive safety such as crashworthiness, seatbelts and airbags. These combined actions have contributed to the continuous reduction of the number of fatalities on European roads. Nevertheless, the number of road accidents and the number of road victims are still unacceptably high in the European Union. Around 41000 fatalities occur each year. On top of this, there are also 1.4 million injuries a year. This comes at an enormous cost, in both human and financial terms. Even though the number of fatalities on EU roads is decreasing, the number of accidents with injuries is still increasing. Moreover, the marginal contribution of some conventional measures, like passive safety, is reaching its limits. Further improvements in safety, by these measures, are becoming more and more difficult to achieve. But at the same time, new technologies are becoming available and offer the prospect of significant reduction in the number of accidents, and casualties. This is why, in the case of pedestrian safety, I have supported the idea to complement the passive safety with active safety measures based on these technologies. But pedestrian safety is only a part of the much larger issue of road safety. Last September the Commission presented the White Paper on European Transport policy for 2010. In this paper the Commission set a very ambitious target for road safety. A 50% reduction of road fatalities by 2010. That should bring the number of deaths per year down to 20.000. This is not going to be easy, and all stakeholders have to play their part.
Samenvatting