Industry support grows for 'Day without a Road Death' project

Industry support is growing for the European TISPOL 'Day Without a Road Death' project.

Taking place across Europe on Wednesday 21 September. Devised as Project EDWARD by the European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL), the initiative is meant to draw attention to the average of 70 deaths occurring every day on the roads of Europe.   

Project EDWARD has the support of European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc, the European Commission, the European Transport Safety Council and traffic police forces from across TISPOL’s 30 member countries. 

UK support for Project EDWARD comes from GEM Motoring Assist, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), Road Safety GB, Road Safety Scotland, Road Safety Wales, the Automobile Association and many public and private organisations. 

TISPOL President Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid said: “There have been some excellent reductions in road deaths and serious injuries earlier in this decade, but they have stalled in the past couple of years. It is therefore vital that we re-focus our attention on the efforts needed to get back on course in order to have a chance of achieving the European 2020 targets.     

“We believe strongly in the value of setting targets, and we believe that the strong leadership from governments can make a massive difference in reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads.” 

Winning the support of individual road users is also vital, land if everyone does a little, then we all stand to gain a great deal, according to  Reid.   

“A day without a road death is of course the vision we should strive for every day, not just on 21 September,” he said.

“But as a simple way of raising awareness, I am convinced that Project EDWARD can be a great success, whether or not we achieve zero deaths on the day itself. 

“Each day, an average of 70 people across Europe will set off on road journeys, but they won’t make it home.  On 21 September – and every day – please think about the way you drive, ride or cross the road. Think about how you can reduce risk by always wearing a seatbelt, keeping to speeds that are both legal and appropriate for the conditions, not driving after drinking alcohol or taking drugs, and not using a mobile phone at the wheel.  

“If everyone commits to making small changes, then the road safety improvements will be huge and we will achieve big reductions in the number of people who are killed or seriously injured.” 

TISPOL is asking every road user to sign the Project EDWARD pledge at www.tispol.org/edward/pledge. So far, more than 82,000 people have signed the pledge.