The FIA Foundation has participated in a high level debate on European Road Safety in Brussels.
On 26th April the Forum for the Automobile and Society hosted a meeting on “The Three ‘Es’ of European Road Safety – Integrating Engineering, Education and Enforcement.” At the forum event guest speakers Garrelt Duin MEP, Ari Vatenen MEP, Enrico Grillo Pasquarelli from the European Commission, FIA Foundation Director General David Ward, Jean-Yves Le Coz, Director of Road Safety Policy for Renault and Kim Pederson, President of CORTE, spoke of the need for an integrated approach to tackle road safety - one that sees the “3 Es” as intrinsically linked in a systemic approach aimed at reducing the death toll on Europe’s roads.
Delegates at the forum event were reminded of the 50,000 deaths that occur on the roads of the enlarged EU annually and of the European Union’s goal to halve the number of road victims by 2010. To this end, motor vehicle and road engineering, the education of the driver and other road users and the enforcement of the rules of the road should form a systemic and integrated approach to road safety. The example of the seat belt can be taken to illustrate how this might happen in practice. Vehicle engineering could see the introduction of seat belt reminder technology in all new cars, drivers and passengers should be educated about the importance of wearing a seat belt and the dangers of not wearing one, and law enforcers should play a part in ensuring compliance with seat belt wearing laws.
One of the central themes of the forum debate was the wide variation of experience across the member states of the EU and the related need to compare data, share information and best practice and accept a shared responsibility for reducing deaths on the roads in Europe.
The Forum for the Automobile and Society is organisation that brings together decision makers from the motoring industry and motoring organisations together with policy makers from major legislative institutions and provides a place for the exchange of information and views for all those interested in automotive issues.
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