A meeting of policymakers held in Brussels in January 2003 discussed the development of the European Road Assessment Programme, an FIA Foundation-backed consortium which is rating Europe’s roads for their safety performance and design. Malcolm Harbour MEP, the Chairman of the Brussels-based Forum for the Automobile & Society, chaired the conference which heard from speakers including Fabiola Mascardi, Member of Cabinet of EC Vice President, Loyola de Palacio; Claes Tingvall, Director of Road Safety at the Swedish National Road Administration, and the author of the ‘Vision Zero’ approach to road safety; and James Rosenstein, Vice President for External Relations at Toyota Motor Europe, which is also funding the Euro RAP programme.
John Dawson, Chairman of Euro RAP and Policy Director of the UK Automobile Association, set out the achievements of Euro RAP to date, including the mapping of road risk rates in European Countries and the establishment of a road design assessment protocol. Mr Dawson explained that the Euro RAP objectives were inspired by the success of the European car crash test programme Euro NCAP in raising both the profile of vehicle safety and design standards; the need to meet the EU’s target of a 50% reduction in road fatalities in a decade; the ‘Vision Zero’ aims of building survivability into road crashes, for which road design would play a vital part; and the grim fact of 40,000 deaths every year on Europe’s roads.
The conference, attended by an audience including senior EU policymakers, road engineers, car manufacturers and automobile clubs, was one in a series of profile building events being organised by Euro RAP, which have included conferences n the UK, Spain and Germany.
Presentations
Mr John Dawson, Chairman of Euro RAP and Policy Director of the UK Automobile Association >
Claes Tingvall, Director of Road Safety at the Swedish National Road Administration >
Speeches
Fabiola Mascardi, a key adviser to EU Transport Commissioner, Loyola de Palacio >
James Rosenstein, Vice President for External Relations at Toyota Motor Europe >