Results from the first European Day Without A Road Death (Project EDWARD)

Results from the first European Day Without A Road Death (Project EDWARD) have been published by TISPOL (the European Traffic Police Network) and the European Commission.

Summary of results:

• On Wednesday 21 September 2016 (Project EDWARD day) there were 43 road deaths across 31 countries
• This compares with 70 fatalities on the same day in 2015 and represents a like-for-like reduction of almost 39 per cent.
• 19 countries recorded zero fatalities on 21 September, compared with 11 countries in 2015. Eight of these countries had recorded at least one fatality on 21 September 2015
• Seven other countries recorded a reduction in fatalities, compared with the same day in 2015
• Three countries recorded an increase in fatalities
• A full country-by-country result sheet is available here

Twitter impact:

• 7,923 Twitter posts on Monday 19th, Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st September
• 19,298,225 unique reach for #ProjectEDWARD
• Project EDWARD featured in Twitter Moments Today
• Trending in top 5 in UK
• Trending in many other countries
• At one point trending in top 50 globally

Commenting on Project EDWARD, European Commissioner Violeta Bulc said:

“Education and awareness make important contributions to road safety, and Project EDWARD sets an extremely ambitious target: to achieve a day without a single death on Europe’s roads. This year, we recorded a significant improvement compared to 2015, which shows that when all stakeholders come together we really make an impact and save lives. We are on the right path to make the aspirational goal of zero fatality a reality.”

The new TISPOL President Paolo Cestra said:

“When we launched Project EDWARD, we accepted that it would be incredibly difficult to achieve a day without road death across Europe. But we believe these results show that when everyone works together towards such a worthwhile goal, we can make a big difference. We thank everyone who signed the pledge, who shared our information messages and who made one or two small differences in the way they use the road.  Any small individual action counts in helping to recuce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads of Europe. 

“We understand that many factors impact on fatality figures on any particular day, so we cannot state what direct impact Project EDWARD had. But we believe Project EDWARD has delivered fantastic results in terms of revitalising Europe-wide collaboration and participation, as well as sharing simple road safety messages far and wide.”

“There is an ambitious European Commission target to reduce death on Europe’s roads by the year 2020. That target has in recent times seemed out of reach. But we believe that Project EDWARD has shown that, with the right commitment and motivation, we still have time to achieve it, and I urge everyone to work towards that goal.”

About Project EDWARD:

• Project EDWARD was introduced by TISPOL to run for the first time on 21 September 2016
• As well as raising awareness of road safety issues, a key aim of Project EDWARD was to draw attention to the value of national and Europe-wide road safety targets
• The European Commission supported Project EDWARD
• 31 European countries supported Project EDWARD
• Financial support for Project EDWARD was provided by the GEM Motoring Assist Road Safety Charity