Skip to main content

TISPOL responds to slowdown in EU road safety progress

Road deaths fell by a negligible one per cent in the EU last year according to new data released by the European Commission. The drastic slowdown in progress puts at risk the region's target of halving road deaths by 2020. TISPOL general secretary Ruth Purdie called for an immediate end to the reductions in numbers of traffic police. “It is unlikely that anyone will establish a precise provable link between the decline in traffic police numbers and the increase in casualties across Europe. But as long as ro
March 25, 2015 Read time: 1 min
RSSRoad deaths fell by a negligible one per cent in the EU last year according to new data released by the European Commission. The drastic slowdown in progress puts at risk the region's target of halving road deaths by 2020.

650 TISPOL general secretary Ruth Purdie called for an immediate end to the reductions in numbers of traffic police.

“It is unlikely that anyone will establish a precise provable link between the decline in traffic police numbers and the increase in casualties across Europe. But as long as roads policing resources are allowed to dwindle, we can expect casualty numbers to rise further. This is an unacceptable situation, which we believe should be dealt with as a priority, right now,” she said.

Related Content

  • May 18, 2012
    Vulnerable road users face safety problems
    Concern is growing in Europe over the safety standards for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and powered two wheeler riders. A total of 169,000 pedestrians, cyclists and users of powered two-wheeled vehicles (PTW) have been killed on European roads since 2001; 15,300 of them in 2009. The figures have been published in the new Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) report and reveal a decrease in the number of deaths by 34% for pedestrians and cyclists, and just 18% for PTW riders compared to
  • July 1, 2016
    UK road safety’ is stagnating’ – IAM and RoSPA call for new strategy
    Independent road safety charity IAM RoadSmart and safety charity the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) have called for government action following the release of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) reported road casualties in Great Britain 2015. The 2015 figures show there were 1,732 reported road deaths – two per cent fewer compared with 2014. According to the DfT, this is the second lowest annual total on record after 2013. The number of people seriously injured in reported road tr
  • August 31, 2016
    Project EDWARD: European Day Without A Road Death
    The first European Day Without A Road Death (Project EDWARD) is taking place across Europe on Wednesday 21 September. Devised by the European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL), the initiative aims to draw attention to the average of 70 deaths occurring every day on the roads of Europe. Project EDWARD has the support of European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc, the European Commission, the European Transport Safety Council and traffic police forces from across TISPOL’s 30 member countries.
  • March 17, 2017
    Europe’s road safety gains have stagnated EU
    Europe will fail to meet its road death targets as enforcement budgets are slashed and drivers face an epidemic of distractions. The European Union will not achieve its aim of halving the number of people killed on its roads each year by 2020, delegates to Tispol’s (the organisation of European traffic police) annual conference in Manchester were told. “The target will be missed because there was only a 17% decrease in road fatalities across Europe between 2010 and 2015 when [the rate of reduction] should h