The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has launched recently the PIN Annual Report at the PIN Annual Conference on June 18th, 2014 in Brussels. There were 9.800 fewer road deaths in the EU in 2011-2013 than in three years before in 2010, demonstrating that the European Union is almost on track to reach the 2020 target. Slovakia (-37%) tops the ranking for reduction in road deaths between 2010 and 2013, followed by Spain, Greece and Portugal with reductions of more than 30%. Across the EU28 road deaths have been cut by 18% between 2010 and 2013, equivalent to a 6.2% average annual reduction. The EU target for 2020 is therefore reachable if combined efforts at both national and EU level are stepped up. 

However, there is a clearly slower progress in reducing serious injuries on EU roads. George Yannis, NTUA Associate Professor, stated that “The difference in progress might be attributed to several factors which have a more important impact on deaths than on serious injuries, such as improved vehicle passive safety, speed management and better driver behaviour (leading to less injury accidents but many less deaths) and the improved post accident care systems across the EU.”