Public health groups call for EU target and action

Story from the European Transport Safety Council.

The European Union should urgently come forward with a new target and measures to cut serious road injuries, according to public health and medical experts from across Europe in a letter sent to the president of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker.

The European Commission published the first official European statistics on the number of people seriously injured in road collisions in the European Union earlier this year. The groups, led by the European Public Health Alliance, say that the figure of 135,000 seriously injured people in 2014 reflects the ‘enormous toll’ that road collisions still take on individuals, their families and health services.

The groups have written to the president of the European Commission and the three Commissioners responsible for transport safety, industrial affairs and health to say practical measures are also needed to prevent life-changing injuries sustained in road collisions such as improved safety standards for new vehicles.