Report of the high level Expert Group for a European policy for road safety

Each year, road accidents are the cause of about 50,000 deaths and more than a million and a half injuries on the roads of the Community. Since the Treaty of Rome was signed, almost two million people have been killed in the twelve countries which are now Community Members, and almost forty million injured: that is a wartime casualty list. The economic loss which these accidents have produced every year are of the order of 70 billion Ecus, distinctly more than the Gross National Product of different countries of the EEC. There are many specific technical measures of recognised effectiveness which could reduce the number and seriousness of accidents. The Experts Committee have listed more than sixty, for very different areas; but at present these are enforced only incompletely, and differently in the various Member States, acting in isolation, with the resultant record of many unnecessary deaths and injuries. At this time there is no overall cooperation in this field. The fatal-accident rate (expressed per kilometre of travel) differs more than sevenfold as between the most advanced Member States and those with the least good figures: that indicates the extent of the progress that is possible. Using the same basis of measurement, the average risk on Community roads is nearly twice that in the United States: if it were possible to attain their level (which is also that of the more advanced European States), there would be a saving of more than 20,000 deaths every year within the Community. The margin for advance is therefore substantial and the Experts Committee therefore believes that both mandatory and voluntary Community action could contribute to a major reduction in the number of victims. This action could be taken in two principal forms: firstly, continuing in the ever- essential process of making binding Directives; secondly, developing a new range of activities, seeking more to help and convince than coerce, since directives cannot settle everything, regardless of their sphere of competence, because many decisions will remain within the scope of the States and their local authorities.