More than 40 organisations concerned with road safety from across Europe together with 11 members of the European Parliament have sent a letter to President Jean-Claude Juncker urging him to not drop setting new EU target to cut serious road injuries. POLIS is among the signatories.

The letter was sent yesterday by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), ahead of Thursday’s meeting of national transport ministers in Luxembourg where the target was set to be announced.  The European Transport Safety Council has learnt that the announcement of the target has been dropped and no new date has been set for its publication.

The long-planned initiative had been reconfirmed in a Commission  press release as recently as 24 March, and has already been strongly supported by  member states and the  European Parliament.

According to ETSC analysis at least 200,000 people suffered life-changing consequences resulting from traffic collisions last year alone, an increase of 3% from the previous year. Furthermore, over recent years, declines in serious road injuries have not matched the reductions in road deaths.