Swiss road safety awarded

34% fewer road fatalities since 2010, and as many as 60% fewer than in 2001: Switzerland's achievement was recognized by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) when it presented this year's Road Safety Performance Index Award.

Together with Norway, Switzerland has the lowest traffic mortality rate in Europe. In the last five years, it has thus gained five places in the ranking.

Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of the ETSC, attributes the improvement to the "Via Sicura" program to improve road safety, which is not without controversy in Switzerland: "Switzerland now has zero tolerance for new drivers and professional drivers with regard to alcohol, is improving safety infrastructure and has introduced new rules that reduce the risks for young drivers and new drivers. We hope the award will give a positive boost to other countries that used to top the list but have since slipped." The countries in question include the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

40% work-related accidents

Fatal accidents in the rest of the European countries have not decreased in the last three years, in contrast to Switzerland. Up to 40% of the total 25,671 fatalities were due to collisions related to the occupational environment, according to the ETSC. Occupational risks should be addressed by both individual nations and the EU as a whole, the council urges.

Avenoso points out that some companies and organizations are already leading by example here, "but thousands of organizations in Europe are ignoring the issue of road safety among their employees - they see road risk management as a burden rather than an opportunity." Yet training and safe vehicles could reduce insurance premiums and downtime, and improve the company's image. But Avenoso is also calling on governments and the EU to get more involved here and support companies on the issue of road safety.

Prevention does not slacken

The Swiss Federal Accident Prevention Bureau (BFU) sees the award as an obligation for Switzerland to continue its commitment to road safety. "Even more serious injuries and fatalities can be prevented. But that won't happen if we slacken our efforts in road safety now and fail to implement proven solutions," warns Stefan Siegrist, deputy director of the bfu, who attended the award ceremony on site. Siegrist is thinking of the decreasing awareness of politicians for accident prevention. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that Switzerland, in contrast to earlier years, has no quantitative targets for the reduction of deaths and serious injuries in road traffic. Last week's decision by the National Council to lift the ban on serving and selling alcohol at freeway service stations also underscores this worrying trend, he said.

Text: ETSC/BFU/kw