TISPOL – European Traffic Police Network
TISPOL and An Garda Síochána launch Project EDWARD at Dublin road policing conference
• First European Day Without a Road Death (EDWARD) has been set for Wednesday 21 September 2016
• Participation from all 30 TISPOL member countries
• EDWARD has been created to assist in re-energising the reduction of fatalities and serious injuries on Europe’s roads.
• Citizens across Europe invited to make the EDWARD pledge at www.tispol.org/edward
A BRAND new initiative to cut death and injury on Europe’s roads will be launched today (Wednesday 25 May) by TISPOL (the European Traffic Police Network) and An Garda Síochána. Working alongside the European Commission, politicians, policymakers and road safety partners across Europe, TISPOL has chosen Wednesday 21 September 2016 as its first European Day Without A Road Death (Project EDWARD).
TISPOL begins a countdown to project EDWARD today at its road policing conference, and will open the website pledge page (www.tispol.org/edward) for anyone to sign. TISPOL Council members from 30 European countries will sign the pledge today.
TISPOL President Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid explains: "Police officers and road safety professionals have gathered in Dublin this week to consider a disappointing European road safety scene. We reflect on recent results which paint a very mixed picture of progress in reducing deaths and serious injuries on Europe’s roads.
"For the first few years of this decade, countries across the EU have been highly successful in pursuing the 2020 50% reduction target. But the arrival of a second successive year of disappointing news shows that this downward trend has stagnated.
"We need to speed up our efforts, and one initiative we believe can make a big impact is our new European Day Without A Road Death – Project EDWARD for short.
"EDWARD will encourage all road users to reflect on their behaviour and attitude. After all, driver behaviour remains the most important barrier to progress as we approach 2020 and its reduction targets.
"Drivers are unwittingly or sometimes knowingly putting other road users in so many ways, perhaps by speeding, drink-driving, not wearing a seat belt, using the phone while driving, using vehicles they have not kept roadworthy, parking their cars on bicycle lanes, blocking pedestrian crossings, not turning on their lights or engaging in risky manoeuvres.
"But it’s not just drivers who are at fault. Many cyclists and pedestrians increase their risk levels by choosing to ignore the rules or look for risky short cuts.
"In the days leading up to the Project EDWARD day, we want all road users to think – even for a few short minutes – about the risks they face, the risks they may pose to others and how they can go about reducing those risks.
"TISPOL’s target is that no one should die on the roads of Europe on Wednesday 21 September. And as we pause to reflect on how we use the roads, it is my belief that Project EDWARD can make a significant contribution towards further sizeable and sustained reductions in road death and serious injury.
"So whether you represent a national government, a private organisation, a public agency, a charity, a school, college or university, or whether you simply care as an individual, please join me and make the pledge to support Project EDWARD, and do your bit to reduce risk and improve safety for the people who use our roads.”
Please make the pledge to support Project EDWARD. Visit www.tispol.org/edward
Notes for editors
For more information, please call TISPOL media adviser James Luckhurst on 00 44 7770 608153 or email media@tispol.org
