On 21 September 2016 it is the first European Day Without A Road Death. The project – for which, according to European custom, the acronym ‘EDWARD’ is used – is an initiative by TISPOL, the European Traffic Police Network. TISPOL, with 30 European member countries asks every European organization and every European citizen to sign the pledge on the TISPOL website to make 21 September the first European day without road deaths.
Signing the pledge
For a long time road safety has been improving: the number of casualties declined every year and it seemed as if the European target of 50% fewer road deaths in 2020 than in 2010 was coming within reach. During the past two years, however, most countries no longer saw a decline but a rise in the numbers of fatalities ánd serious road injuries. The largest proportion of the casualties is among drivers and passengers of cars, but other road users, like cyclists and pedestrians, are also a considerable proportion. TISPOL has started the EDWARD project, which includes signing the pledge which consists of 12 points, to achieve that in the days leading up to 21 September all road users briefly – if only for a couple of minutes – dwell upon their risks in traffic, the risks they are for others, and what they can do to reduce these risks.
Awareness
Peter van der Knaap, managing director SWOV, supports the project: “Of course every day should be a day without road deaths. But TISPOL has thought of a very simple and very original way to increase road user awareness of safe traffic behaviour and this deserves our support”, says Van der Knaap. “SWOV is positive about the pledge: it consists of twelve simple rules (of behaviour) that apply for every road user. If, for example, every road user adheres to the promise not to speed and not to use a mobile phone behind the wheel, it will certainly save casualties. Van der Knaap: “I make an appeal to every organization and every road user to visit the EDWARD-project on the TISPOL-website and read the pledge, to give it some thought and to sign the pledge. And then to adhere to the pledge, preferably not just on 21 September!”.
