PHOTO: POLICIE.CZ12 European countries registered ZERO road fatalities at the control day of the 2023 ROADPOL Safety Days campaign.
The news came after final completion of data received from 32 ROADPOL member countries of which 29 took active part in the European Roads Policing Network's flagship annual campaign. It was carried out in the week of 16-22 September with the goal of achieving the ZERO for at least one single day. The results were collected during 2023 ROADPOL Conference and Exhibition in Sofia, Bulgaria, hosted by ROADPOL member, Bulgaria's National Police Chief Directorate.
Achievement
On the control day of this years campaign, September 20th, all participants reported either ZERO fatalities or a number considerably lower than the average. The 12 ZERO-death champions are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovenia with their number one higher that the 12 ZERO countries during the 2022 campaign. Overall 34 fatalities were reported on the day throughout the continent which is a 17% drop compared to last years campaign. The number represents a general 41% drop down from the average 70 road deaths, which occur everyday on the roads of the EU.
PHOTO: POLICE.BEEvents
Numerous public events were organized during the week with the aim of attracting public attention to the subject of road safety and safe mobility including initiatives from governmental and civil organizations, educational institutions and private companies. The newly introduced #zeromeanslife hashtag was used more than 150 times to promote events held under the ROADPOL Safety Days banner on all social media. More than 600 photos were sent to ROADPOL or uploaded to social media in publications mentioning ROADPOL and carrying the #zeromeanslife.
Challenge
“The numbers are optimistic but they are still far away from the Vision Zero goal. This means that we still have a lot of work until we prove the vision can actually become a reality”, ROADPOL General Secretary Sanja Veic commented. “We have to intensify our efforts through a combination of modern road police enforcement and comprehensive prevention work. But in this police cannot be alone so we call upon all institutions, national and international, all educational institutions, private companies and each and every road user to join hands and be responsible while in road traffic. This way the zero will arrive rather sooner than later”, added Mrs. Veic.
