Road safety in the manufacture of motor vehicles

Recommendation 539 (1968)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 27 September 1968 (18th Sitting) (see Doc. 2442, report of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development. Text adopted by the Assembly on 27 September 1968 (18th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Greatly perturbed by the steadily increasing number of road casualties in Europe which are now of the order of some 75,000 persons killed and 2,000,000 injured each year ;

2. Convinced that the explosive increase now taking place in the number of vehicles on the roads will lead to an aggravation of these casualty figures unless the standard of road safety is improved ;

3. Aware that road safety measures taken over recent years have in fact led to the number of road casualties rising proportionately less than might have been expected from the rise in the number of vehicles on the road, but certain that a major new effort is necessary if the present annual total of such casualties is to be actually diminished ;

4. Conscious inter alia of the contribution towards the diminution of road casualties which can be made by improving safety factors in vehicle design and construction ; aware that the new statutory regulations in this field which have recently been brought into force, or will be brought into force at the end of the present year, by the US Federal Authorities will have to be complied with by European car manufacturers in respect of all models which they hope to export to the United States ; further aware of the delays that would be inherent in arriving at separate common European standards in the field of vehicle design and construction ;

5. Convinced of the vital importance in the longer term of a comprehensive, vigorous, and continuous programme of road safety education starting at school level and being pursued throughout the individual's life from his school years to his old age ; deploring the lukewarm support, and in some cases actual obstruction, manifested by specifically educational interests to the implementation of Resolution (64) 12 of the Committee of Ministers which called for the inclusion of systematic instruction on road safety in school curricula ; persuaded that road safety should be taught as a specific subject at least in secondary schools ; believing that the sharp increase in the volume of motor traffic crossing national frontiers in Europe necessitates the establishment of a common Europe-wide approach with regard to traffic rules and road signs ; further believing that a Europe-wide approach to road safety education would be greatly facilitated by the existence of a common "Model" (loi-type) Highway Code ;

6. Concerned by the hazards presented by certain types of ill-health and by certain psychological behaviour patterns from the point of view of fitness to drive ;

7. Having regard to the importance of the contribution to road safety to be achieved by the improvement of the road infrastructure not only by the construction of new motorways, but also by the improvement of existing roads (elimination of black spots, hidden entries etc.), and, last but not least, by the use of the latest techniques of traffic control and regulation (e.g. the use of traffic operated road signals),

8. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers invite member governments :

a to take the new American standards for vehicle design and construction as a common minimum point of departure and put appropriate regulations based on them into force without further delay, it being understood that this would be without prejudice in particular cases to the possibility of adopting different standards specially adapted to European conditions ;

b to give urgent attention to the need to greatly develop road safety education, and that in particular they should :

review the practical effects so far given by their educational authorities to Resolution (64) 12 of the Committee of Ministers calling for the inclusion of systematic instruction of road safety in school curricula and, where this is not already being done arrange for road safety to be taught as a separate subject at least in secondary schools ;

examine what further steps can be taken to develop post-schooling education in road safety ;

instruct their representatives in ECMT to complete during 1969 their work on the production and publication of a draft "Model" (loi-type) European Highway Code ; and

advance the holding of the 2nd Conference on Road Safety Education now being planned for 1970 or 1971 by the Council for Cultural Co-operation of the Council of Europe and by ECMT ;

c to take collective steps (possibly in the framework of the European Public Health Committee of the Council of Europe) to further study the implications of certain kinds of ill-health and of certain psychological behaviour patterns on driving performance ;

d to take further measures to facilitate the confrontation and pooling of the experience of member states in road construction, road improvement, and the use of modern traffic control installations, in the framework of ECMT, OECD and in that of the European Conference of Local Authorities.