Europeans are calling on Member States to boost their efforts to improve road safety, according to a survey published by the European Commission today.
Europeans are calling on Member States to boost their efforts to improve road safety, according to a survey published by the European Commission today. Nine out of ten Europeans (94%) considered driving under the influence of alcohol to be the most significant road safety problem, while eight out of ten (78%) called speeding a major safety problem. A majority of respondents (52%) said Member States should focus on improving road infrastructure as a first or second priority, while 42% said the same for improving the enforcement of traffic laws and 36% for dealing equally forcefully with resident and foreign traffic offenders. The Eurobarometer survey was commissioned by the Commission as part of its ongoing campaign to cut road fatalities across the EU. The results are published today together with new plans to make our roads even safer.
Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: "These figures show that Europeans consider road safety to be an important issue. Although much progress has already been made in recent years, we agree with our citizens that a lot more could be and should be done. Every death is still one death too many, which is why we are committed to helping to improve road safety even further."
The Eurobarometer survey on road safety was conducted among more than 25,000 people aged 15 or over from all 27 Member States. This is a representative sample of EU citizens and the statistical results were weighted to correct for known demographic discrepancies.
The Commission requested the survey to:
Derive greater insight into what EU citizens consider to be the most serious road safety problems
Understand better in which areas EU citizens would like national governments to do more
Identify which areas EU citizens wanted their governments to prioritise
The survey is part of the Commission's ongoing campaign to halve the number of fatalities on Europe's roads.