The move was highlighted recently by the European Transport Safety Council, which has called on the Commission to come forward with the target as promised.

The staff working paper says the Commission will “work on serious injuries including monitoring of progress…” – but makes no mention of the strategic target promised ‘shortly’ in a Commission press release of 24 March.

The ETSC said it understands that the decision to drop the target came from a high level in the European Commission, but no explanation has been given publically on why there has been a sudden u-turn.

The new serious injury target, to accompany the EU’s existing 2020 target to halve road deaths, has already been strongly supported by member states and the European Parliament.

Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the European Transport Safety Council, said: “On the one hand the Commission is saying that the criteria for setting a strategic serious road injury target have been met, and yet this very target seems to have been dropped from the announcement of the biggest review of EU road safety policy in five years. It’s hard to comprehend what the roadblock is when the target has broad political support and is such a simple, cheap, non-controversial and necessary step.

“Targets for cutting road deaths set by the EU in 2001 and 2010 have made a major contribution to the dramatic reductions we have seen in recent years. But we have not seen the same level of progress on serious injuries – hence the widely accepted need for a separate target.”

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