Held today in Manchester in the UK, the event is centred on “Improving Road Safety – Solutions that work” and includes presentations from the Head of Road Safety at the European Commission and the TISPOL President, as well as police officers, policy makers and academics from across Europe.

A priority at the event is to review the techniques that will always be effective in reducing road traffic deaths and serious injuries, and also to consider new ways of dealing with familiar challenges.

TISPOL president Koen Ricour commented: ‘TISPOL and its members employ solutions that work, which results in achieving reductions not only in fatalities but also in serious injuries. 

‘Reductions in numbers of serious injuries have not kept pace with those in the numbers of fatalities. We welcomed the EU decision to make injury reduction an important part of its road safety priorities towards 2020; we believe this willingness to give serious injuries a greater prominence will also support the EU’s existing aim of halving the number of road fatalities by 2020.

‘The strategy used for dealing with fatalities will be applied for serious injuries, based on the recently agreed common definition of a serious road traffic injury. Data collected in 2014 will form the basis of new serious injury reduction targets for 2015-20,’ he explained.

‘Make no mistake, a serious road traffic injury means enormous pain and upheaval, not just for the person involved but for family members and friends, too. We are committed to using our experience and expertise to help bring about a significant reduction in these tragic events.’