Press Release: Road safety: European action plan continues to deliver results – target of saving 25,000 lives on Europe’s roads by 2010 is attainable

The Commission's European Road Safety Action Plan, launched in 2001, may reach its target on schedule. The aim is to halve the number of fatalities on Europe's roads over the period 2001-2010, reducing the total number of deaths from almost 50,000 to 25,000. The latest figures, released on the occasion of the first European Road Safety Day, show clearly that this ambitious objective was justified: the last 12 months have seen an 8% reduction in fatalities. In 2006, nearly 12,000 lives were saved in the European Union in comparison with 2001.