HERE’S a simple enough New Year’s Resolution for us all – reduce road casualties.
That’s what the reprentatives of the European Traffic Police Network – also known as TIPSOL – are after with three simple requests: always wear a seat belt; stay within the speed limit and at a safe speed for the road and weather conditions; and don’t drive if you have been drinking or taking drugs.
Sounds fair enough.
But TISPOL president, Javier Sanchez Ferragut, has an interesting take on what this would mean: “To put the current 40,000 annual death toll into perspective, imagine 555 double-decker London buses, 96 Jumbo jets, four days worth of visitors to the Eiffel Tower or half the capacity of Milan’s San Siro Stadium. Many thousands more suffer permanent, life-changing injury in road collisions.”
Images such as 555 double-decker buses are powerful ones – all filled with road casualties that could be prevented.
Mr Ferragut continued: “We call on drivers across Europe to help us reduce road casualties in 2010, by agreeing to three simple requests. Always wear a seatbelt. Stay within the speed limit and don’t drive if you have been drinking or taking drugs.”
A TIPSOL December drink-drive operation in Europe put 863,204 drivers through controls over seven days in 20 European countries. From these controls, police detected 32,497 alcohol offences and 861 drug offences.
I wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2010 – I think we could all do with that – but in particular a very safe one on the roads. Ralph Morton, editor.
Reduce road casualties