Skip to main content

ERF reveals policy priorities planned

The ERF has unveiled its strategic research priorities for road safety for Horizon 2020, the European Commission’s next multi-year framework programme for transport research and innovation. The ERF’s research road map identifies six priority areas that it believes can contribute towards reducing fatalities by 50% compared to 2010 levels. More specifically, it urges policy makers to devote research to key areas including adapting infrastructure to meet the challenges of 21st century traffic, developing alter
May 21, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The ERF has unveiled its strategic research priorities for road safety for Horizon 2020, the 2465 European Commission’s next multi-year framework programme for transport research and innovation. The ERF’s research road map identifies six priority areas that it believes can contribute towards reducing fatalities by 50% compared to 2010 levels. More specifically, it urges policy makers to devote research to key areas including adapting infrastructure to meet the challenges of 21st century traffic, developing alternative tools for financing and maintaining roads and planning more cost-effective road operation and maintenance methods. The also include listing in-depth statistics into the causality of accidents, plans for infrastructure and vulnerable road users and wider deployment and harmonisation of ITS solutions.

This move is being made in particular with a view to improving Europe’s road safety as a priority. The ERF points out that despite progress achieved during the last 10 years in Europe, around 90 people/day are killed each day in crashes while another 25,000/day are injured. Safety research has played a key role in cutting the fatality rate by 43% during the last European Road Safety Action Programme which ran from 2001-2010. But further research will be required and the new European Road Safety Programme 2011-2020 (ERSAP 2011-2020) has set a target of reducing casualties by a further 50%. However the ERF points out that this will require additional co-operation to achieve.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Road safety challenge for Europe
    June 25, 2012
    The latest official figures on road safety in Europe are giving cause for concern, with data showing that casualty reduction has slowed. EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas recently announced disappointing progress in casualty reduction on Europe's roads. The joint European police association, TISPOL, has added that it is also concerned that improvements in cutting fatalities on Europe’s roads significantly slowed in 2011. The overall figure shows a reduction of just 2% in the total number of people kille
  • Accident prevention leading the road safety fight
    February 23, 2012
    ASECAP and its members are among many oragnisations leading the fight to improve road safety Many European organisations have pledged their support to the goal of dramatically reducing even further the number of accidents, fatalities and serious injuries on roads. And at its annual road safety conference in the Czech capital Prague, ASECAP (the European Association of Operators of Tolled Road Infrastructures), presented EU institutions, national authorities and transport stakeholders "the outstanding resul
  • ERF urges greater maintenance of Europe’s road signs to save lives
    March 21, 2016
    ERF has launched a position paper to advocate better maintenance of Europe’s traffic signs. Vertical signage is an essential element not only of a modern and well-maintained road infrastructure, but also of a safe and functional road network. Road signs help regulate traffic, provide crucial visual guidance and give drivers important preview especially during night-time conditions. Well maintained and efficient signage becomes even more necessary when taking into account the ageing population of Europe, in
  • Europe’s COVID escape route
    April 2, 2021
    The European Union’s COVID recovery budget and its NextGenerationEU programme are major opportunities for national, regional and local road authorities, says Jose Diez*.