Published today (29th April), the report by the ETSC into trends in car occupant safety says that despite improvements in vehicle safety, drink driving and inappropriate speed are still contributing to many deaths on European roads.

The ETSC adds that 900 lives could be saved every year in the EU if car manufacturers were required to fit seat-belt reminder sensors to front and rear passenger seats to help prevent deaths from failure to wear belts. The European Commission is currently revising vehicle safety rules with new proposals expected next year.

The ETSC also estimates that 5,600 deaths, half of them in cars, could be prevented annually by eliminating drink driving and a further 1300 if the average speed on all roads was cut by just 1kph. ETSC is calling on the EU to mandate the use of alcohol interlocks for repeat drink driving offenders and for better enforcement of speed limits across all member states.

Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the ETSC, said: ‘While huge progress has been made in cutting the number of people killed in cars on Europe’s roads it is simply wrong that 12,000 still die every year for reasons that are mostly avoidable. Simple measures like seat belt reminders in front and rear passenger seats, better enforcement of speed limits, and measures to prevent repeat drink drivers from getting behind the wheel could put the EU’s target of halving the number of road deaths by 2020 firmly within reach.’

Although there is still a large number of deaths down to car accidents, the report finds that existing measures have been very effective – and calls for them to be widened. The report estimates that 8,600 car occupants survived severe collisions in 2012 because they were wearing a seatbelt. The number saved each year by improved occupant protection, such as airbags and side-impact bars, built into cars is harder to estimate, but is clearly many thousands.

The report also finds that Spain and Latvia have made the biggest progress in cutting car deaths. The introduction of penalty point systems was cited as being an important component in an array of measures taken to improve safety in those countries.

Countries with historically good performance including Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK and Sweden, have also managed to continue their good progress and are now the safest countries ranked in terms of car occupant deaths per billion vehicle-km travelled.

The report “Ranking EU Progress on Car Occupant Safety” is based on analysis of EU data overseen by a panel of 32 road safety experts from across Europe.

For further information, and to download the report and background data tables, go to www.etsc.eu/pin.