Taking place across Europe on Wednesday the 21st September, the European Traffic Police (TISPOL)’s European Day Without A Road Death project, nicknamed EDWARD, is intended to draw attention to the average of 70 deaths occurring every day on roads across Europe.
Industry support is growing for the EDWARD initiative, which has the support of European Transport Commissioner Violetta Bulc, the European Commission, the European Transport Safety Council, and traffic police forces from across the 30 member countries of TISPOL.
Within the UK, support for Project EDWARD has been good among companies and individuals, with over 82,000 people individually signing the EDWARD pledge online.
The TISPOL President Chief Superintended, Aidan Reid, said, “There have been some excellent reductions in road deaths and serious injuries earlier in this decade, but they have stalled in the past couple of years. It is therefore vital that we re-focus our attention on the efforts needed to get back on course in order to have a chance of achieving the European 2020 targets.
“We believe strongly in the value of setting targets, and we believe that the strong leadership from governments can make a massive difference in reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads.”
According to Reid, winning the support of individual road users is also crucial, as if everyone does a little, we all stand to gain a lot.
“Each day, an average of 70 people across Europe will set off on road journeys, but they won’t make it home. On 21 September – and every day – please think about the way you drive, ride or cross the road. Think about how you can reduce risk by always wearing a seatbelt, keeping to speeds that are both legal and appropriate for the conditions, not driving after drinking alcohol or taking drugs, and not using a mobile phone at the wheel.
“If everyone commits to making small changes, then the road safety improvements will be huge and we will achieve big reductions in the number of people who are killed or seriously injured.”
