Road Safety PIN Talk in Lisbon, November 2007
The impressive road safety successes and the challenges ahead were discussed today at the Road Safety PIN Talk in Lisbon, organised by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and the Portuguese Road Safety Authority (ANSR). Encouraged by support of the public and the good results so far, the Portuguese government has recently raised the bar and reset its aim to reach the target of halving road deaths by 2009, a year ahead of the EU deadline.
Portugal has seen a spectacular decrease in the number of road fatalities over the past decade: from over 271 per million population in 1995 down to 91 per million in 2006. Since 1985 the total number of road victims has decreased by 50%, against a fourfold increase in traffic volume. The biggest reduction was registered in 2006 when the number of road fatalities was reduced by 22.3%, from 1,247 to 969. This outstanding progress in 2006 catapulted Portugal into the three best performing EU countries in terms of road deaths reduction since 2001, along with Luxembourg and France.
However, progress in other areas, notably in reducing speed, is still needed. According to the latest available data, the mean speed increased by 2.5% on motorways and by some 10% on rural roads between 2002 and 2004. The only reduction (6.3%) was registered on urban roads. Between 70% and 80% of drivers exceed the posted speed limits on motorways and country roads, and 50% of motorists continue to speed on urban roads. This explains the high number of pedestrian deaths; 137 in 2006, or about 16% of the total road deaths, above the EU-15 average of 14%. The level of the elderly road deaths is also unacceptably high, with 429 road deaths per million population....
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