Malta adopts European Road Safety Charter

Jesmond Mugliett, Minister for Urban Development and Roads, attended an informal meeting of the ministers responsible for land transport of the 15 European Union member states and the 10 acceding countries in Dublin.

The meeting was held ahead of the signing ceremony of the European Road Safety Charter.

The charter, an initiative of the European Commission, is backed by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and six-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher.

It aims to halve the number of fatalities in road accidents within the European Union every year from the current 40,000 to 20,000 by the year 2010.

EU members and the acceding countries, including Malta are endorsing the European Road Safety Charter.

Mr Mugliett said that despite the fact that with 40 road traffic-related deaths per million, Malta has the lowest per capita fatality rate in Europe, this statistic can be misleading since fatality rates per kilometre travelled on Maltese roads is two to three times higher than the European averages.

"This means that there is still a lot of room to improve our road safety standards, particularly when it comes to driving behaviour, road user education and enforcement of traffic regulations," he said.

Mr Mugliett also outlined the government's road transport policy in the next five years, aimed at making Maltese roads safer for all.

The government would be enhancing the road accident reporting and analysis system in order to facilitate a better understanding of the causes of accidents, he said.