Press Release

[Index]

UNECE warns that South-Eastern Europe risks missing its road safety target

Geneva, 19 June 2009 --

Despite encouraging results in reaching road traffic casualty reduction targets in some parts of Europe (e.g. France, Germany and the Netherlands), South-Eastern Europe is lagging behind. European Union countries have agreed to halve the number of fatalities between 2001 and 2010, and International Transport Forum Member States have committed to a 50% reduction by 2012 compared with 2000. But countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Turkey have seen an increase in the number of casualties between 2000 and 2008.  In Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia the numbers have stayed roughly the same (source: UNECE and WHO).

A regional road safety conference organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Halkida, Greece, on 25-26 June 2009, will examine the road traffic safety situation in South-Eastern Europe. Representatives from all the countries in the region will discuss the global and European road safety contexts, report on national progress and share best practices.

This event is part of a series of United Nations regional commissions’ workshops to promote the setting and implementation of regional and national road traffic casualty reduction targets, the idea being that specific targets can help focus and motivate action.

“Road traffic casualties can be prevented with the political will to commit to specific targets and implement the necessary regulatory framework,” said Eva Molnar, Director of the UNECE Transport Division. “With the heavy social, economic and financial burden that road traffic crashes represent, the question is whether countries can afford not to do so.”

Countries which enforce the road traffic safety “basics” – the wearing of seatbelts and helmets, moderate speeds, limited permissible alcohol levels, etc. – all see a dramatic reduction in the number of people injured and killed.

To improve road safety effectively, three key facets must be addressed: infrastructure, vehicle and the human aspect. UNECE’s work on road safety covers all three aspects, including:

• Technical regulation for child restraint systems
• Regulations for protective helmets (motorcycles)
• Technical regulation on brake assist systems
• Requirements for electronic stability control systems

All of the above are applied in more than 45 countries, including the European Union, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Tunisia

• The Convention on Road Traffic (Vienna, 1968) – the most commonly agreed rules for international road traffic and its safety, including the driver and the vehicle, and a reference for many national Road Traffic Codes all over the world (68 Contracting Parties).
• The Convention on Road Signs and Signals (Vienna, 1968) – a set of more than 200 commonly agreed reference road signs and signals, norms for traffic light signals and uniform conditions for road markings (58 Contracting Parties).

 The Conference is hosted by the Evia Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Hellenic Chambers Transport Association, with the support of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Greece.

For more information about the conference in Greece or on UNECE road safety work, please visit http://www.unece.org/trans/main/welcwp1.html.

Number of persons killed in road traffic crashes	2000	2001	2005	2008
Albania	280	297	307	499
Bosnia and Herzegovina	302	254	..	428
Bulgaria	1 012	1 011	957	1006
Croatia	655	647	597	619
Cyprus	111	98	102	89
France	7 643	7 720	5 318	4620
Germany	7 503	6 977	5 361	4949
Greece	2 037	1 880	..	1657
Hungary	1 200	1 239	1 278	1232
Montenegro	..	..	..	122
Netherlands	1 082	993	..	791
Republic of Moldova	406	420	391	571
Romania	2 499	2 461	2 641	2712
Serbia	..	..	..	962
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	162	107	143	140
Turkey	5 510	4 386	4 496	6022

Source: UNECE Transport Division Database for 2000, 2001 and 2005 figures
WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety for 2008 figures

Definition: Killed: Any person who was killed outright or who died within 30 days as a result of the accident.
Greece: persons recorded as killed are those who die within 3 days of the accident; persons who die later are recorded as injured.

For more information, please contact:

Ref: ECE/TRANS/09/P05