Chief executives and presidents of FIA automobile clubs in Europe gathered in Copenhagen for the 2009 FIA Eurocouncil summit to discuss road safety in Europe in anticipation of the 4th European Road Safety Action Programme expected to run from 2011-2020.

Published today, the resulting FIA Copenhagen Declaration expresses firm views held by the 65 motoring organisations, representing 35 million road users on what is needed if we want to seriously minimise the unnecessary carnage and suffering currently experienced on Europe’s roads.

“Road safety needs strong leadership, clear objectives and precise targets” asserts the declaration. The fact that 40,000 European citizens die annually on the road must be on the agenda of the European summits where Europe’s leaders meet regularly with the EU’s executives.

“Over the last decade, high level commitments made by European governments towards road safety have been seen to pay off in making European roads safer”.

The fight for road safety must continue to be persistent and unremitting. Underlining the importance of the safe systems approach, the declaration points to the significant potential that lies in the improvement of the road infrastructure.

A European-wide safe road infrastructure programme to make safe road design a national priority is just one of the demands that FIA Clubs in Europe are calling for. Infrastructural measures could prevent up to a third of Europe’s serious injuries or fatalities on the roads in the next 10 years.

“Roads must be self explaining (reducing the likelihood of a crash occurring) and forgiving (providing protection when an accident occurs)” recall the European FIA Clubs. “Safer road infrastructure could reduce road deaths by as much as 80 per cent over the decades ahead”.

Looking to the present financial and economic recovery drive currently being implemented, FIA clubs urge governments to invest in improving road infrastructure. “This investment could reap multiple immediate benefits for employment, trade, the environment and most immediately road safety” concludes the declaration.

Ends

Notes for the Editors

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Europe’s leading motoring organisation, represents via its 65 affiliated members, national motoring and touring organisations 35 million motorists in 47 European countries. Europe’s motoring and touring organisations hold road safety as one of their highest priorities in order to make mobility more sustainable and reliable, while keeping it affordable for all.

The Copenhagen Declaration represents the beliefs and demands of the members of the FIA Eurocouncil on the current status quo of Road safety in Europe.

The Copenhagen Eurocouncil summit was hosted by the Danish Automobile club FDM and attended by Tom Behnke, Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Danish Road Safety Council, and Isabelle Kardacz, Head of the European Commission Road Safety Unit.

For more information please contact Sinziana Gille, Communication Manager, +32 2 282 08 16, s.gille (at) fiabrussels.com