Our Coordinator for the European Region, Ms Ana Rita Lavado from Portugal has been busy with on the ground work in the region. She recently flagged an opportunity worth sharing with the network for European organizations to apply for match funding from the European Commission. Find out more here.
Call for proposals to support European road safety actions aimed at tackling problems related to vulnerable road users, children, elderly and young drivers.
The Commission adopted in July 2010 its Policy orientation on Road Safety for 2011- 2020, which outlines priorities for the Commission road safety work during this decade. One of the strategic objectives identified by the Commission is to improve the safety of vulnerable road users as outlined in Objective n° 7: protect vulnerable road users.
Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs), such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and moped riders account for 46% of all fatalities on EU roads. In urban areas 66% are VRU, children and young people account for 19% and elderly people for 32%. Another very important group are the young road users which are highly over-represented in road fatality statistics. For example, the age group of 18-24 year-old makes up around a tenth of the whole population but almost a fifth of all car drivers who are killed in road crashes.
These data indicate the need for further attention and concrete ideas for efficient measures to improve road safety in these areas. Improvement can be considered on a reduction of accidents and on the severity of the accidents. Indeed the number of seriously injured in road traffic crashes is much higher than the number of people killed. The human suffering and the socio-economic costs for the serious road traffic injuries are huge. Furthermore, the number of seriously injured on the roads does not decrease in the same steady pace as the number of road fatalities. The Commission therefore intends to award grants in order to promote its objectives in these domains.
For more information, check out DG-Move’s website for Road Safety
This update was provided by Ana Rita Lavado, Coordinator of the European Region at the YOURS CORE Group