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US endorses European approach to safety

A team of researchers drawn largely from the US Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration have recommended that America adopt European-style road safety programs in an effort to cut the country's soaring road toll.

In particular the team is recommending that America adopts the programs of Europe's so-called "Sunflower Conference" (Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands) which is heading an initiative to improve Europe's overall record on road safety.

Fatalities in the three Sunflower countries range between 6 and 6.9 per 100,000 people. By comparison, the US toll is more than twice as high at 15.3 per 100,000.

To achieve better results, the US research team is making four basic recommendations:

1. That like the Europeans, the US adopts a single "National Safety Plan" with safety improvement goals to serve as a focal point for guidance throughout the country. The team says individuals and organisations active in road safety should be included in creating the plan. State and local governments could use the national plan to create their own strategic approaches and goals - ultimately contributing to the national targets.
2. That all highway safety plans include specific safety improvement targets, keyed to the national plan and agreed by the agencies and organisations involved in the plan's creation. It says safety targets should be based on evidence from road safety research.
3. That a safety performance incentive program be established to encourage governments to take active steps towards improving highway safety. The team suggests that State and local governments, which achieve a significant and measurable safety improvement, be entitled to additional federal funding.
4. That a demonstration project be established centred on a corridor or area where it can be shown how with the use of effective safety programs, the road toll can be reduced.

The Sunflower Conference quoted in the report has been assisting other member countries of the European Union to identify how to improve Europe's overall road safety performance. The US research team suggests that Sunflower members be invited to "two or three" conferences in America with the aim of achieving similar results.