According to the ETSC, 2009 saw a record breaking improvement in road safety, with deaths cut by 11% compared to 2008. Slovakia (36%), Lithuania (26%), Denmark (25%) and Estonia (24%) achieved the best reductions in 2009. For the first time ever the EU10 achieved a better year-to-year reduction (18%) than the EU15 (8%) in 2009.

As many as 34,900 people were killed in road collisions in 2009 in the EU27, still far more than the maximum of 27,000 which the EU set for 2010. Yet, road deaths have gone down by 36% in the EU27 between 2001 and 2009. The EU15 alone, for whom the EU’s 2010 target was originally set, has achieved an impressive 42%.

The ETSC's latest PIN country rankings come at a crucial time when the European Commission is expected to adopt soon new road safety targets for 2020. The ETSC says that the 2001 EU target gave a boost to the combined efforts at both national and EU level. As a result, reductions in the number of deaths have been much higher in 2001-2009 than in three preceding decades.

‘The EU shared target helped each Member State to see that its road safety improvements are contributing to addressing a Europe wide problem. For 2020, the EU should engage in a more structured monitoring to further support Member States’ efforts, as currently undertaken by the ETSC Road Safety PIN,' said Prof. Claes Tingvall, director of traffic safety, Swedish Transport Administration.

‘The fast pace of progress cannot be stopped now. The EU must set new quantified targets for reducing deaths and serious injuries by 2020,’ added ETSC executive director Antonio Avenoso. ‘The EU must also provide instruments for achieving them: first priority must be adopting the EU Directive on Cross-Border Enforcement of traffic rules.’