Road safety manifesto calls for more research
Increased levels of research and development (R&D) will be key to achieving the European Commission's objective of reducing road fatalities by 50 per cent by 2010, according to the European Union Road Federation (ERF). The ERF's road safety programme, which was launched in January 2002, has launched a road safety manifesto in which it calls for three major elements to achieve the Commission's goal. The first is an integrated approach to road safety through multidisciplinary cross-referenced R&D programmes. These should be undertaken at the national and European level by both the road sector and the public sector. The manifesto also calls for the setting of clear road safety targets and the technical harmonisation of the Trans-European transport network (TEN-T). Specific actions recommended by the manifesto include auditing of road safety and preventative approaches, elimination of high accident road sections, cost-benefit analysis of safety measures and road maintenance programmes.