| Introduction |
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The idea of the European Road Safety Charter is to involve all groups of civil society in the endeavour to halve the number of road fatalities between 2001 and 2010 in the EU. This ambitious target was set by the European Commission in 2001. Achieving this target is a shared responsibility, shared between the European Union and the Member States, but also between companies, local entities, the media, schools, associations and numerous other stakeholders - virtually all groups of civil society. The European Commission and, meanwhile, all Member States have set their road safety targets and outlined plans with concrete measures to achieve them. The European Road Safety Charter invites all groups of civil society to do the same - each and everybody in their sphere of responsibility: a company might want to organise regular driver trainings for their employees, a school could set up a traffic plan for their pupils, a newspaper reports regularly on best practices in road safety: all concrete and measurable actions, all potential commitments for the European Road Safety Charter! The Charter Community has currently over 300 signatories with a target of 2.500 within the coming years - it is a community on the move, a Community in Action! The Charter Newsletter is one of several tools to inform existing signatories, potential signatories and other interested parties of what is going on with the Charter. It sheds light on new commitments and signatories and gives the floor to existing signatories to report on their road safety initiatives. It is a forum for all who feel that they want to take up their share of responsibility to achieve the common target in 2010: Saving 25.000 lives. |
| New signatories |
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Carlsberg Denmark is the Danish branch of Carlsberg A/S, one of the world's biggest brewers of beer. With their big fleet of trucks distributing more than 360 products of beers and non-alcoholic drinks, Carlsberg has chosen to focus on lowering down the accidents of the drivers in the company with 50%. In corporation with the Danish Road Safety Council, Teknisk Erhvervsskole Center and driving teachers they will analyse the habits of the employees, carry out the driving courses needed, and monitor the results on a regular basis, ensuring their ambitious goal. The GDV - Verkehrstechnisches Institut der Deutschen Versicherer is an institution carrying out road safety within the ranges of vehicles and road infrastructure. They are considerably involved in the revision of the RDV (Guidelines for Traffic-Safety Inspections) which among other things demands the training for the members of the traffic and road construction authorities. The VTIV will organise a workshop every year within the period 2006 to 2008, to transform the "best practice tool" into practice. Solidarité et Jalons pour le Travail is an association of the Parisian suburbs working to develop the professional insertion of youngsters in social difficulties. As driving licence is a step to integration but unfortunately not accessible for them, SJT has creating associative driving school and commit to make available to this public a driving formation, adapted to their specific necessities: By increasing awareness about citizenship and by a deep work on risky behaviours, they intend to lower accidents amongst the youngsters. PricewaterhouseCoopers Denmark is the Danish department of a multinational company that has signed the European Road Safety Charter. Their everyday line of work involves a lot of driving on a daily basis - back and forth to work, and visiting clients. They will therefore create an internal road safety policy, based on an extensive questionnaire and investigation on the dangers and problem areas that the employees are facing every day. Their commitment includes practical courses that the employees will be offered as well as an intensive follow up and evaluation of the initiatives that have been planned. |
| In focus |
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Some big companies and institutions are here explaining their reasons for signing up for the European Road Safety Charter: Johnson & Johnson .jpg) Pericles Stamatiades, SAFE Fleet Champion EMEA, Company Group Chairman of Consumer Personal Care Group in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Bertschi AG, with its headquarter in Dürrenäsch, Switzerland, has signed as the first Logistics Service Provider in Bulk Transportation the European Road Safety Charter initiative in 2005. "A lot of our customers within the chemical industry realize and accept that the highest safety standards in European transportation are becoming our trademark. We must not only maintain this position but further improve upon in 2006. This will also safeguard our jobs", said CEO Hans-Jörg Bertschi in the employees annual newsletter. Read more here Translink  Ulsterbus driver Thomas Smyth, Mr Eddie McVeigh, Head of European Commission in Northern Ireland and Philip O'Neill, Translink Head of Bus Operations Translink. Translink currently operate a host of safety initiatives which span community safety programmes and campaigns which specifically target children and young people. In addition the local bus and rail managers regularly engage with local schools and community groups. Over the next two years for example, in addition to improving referral and retraining procedures for drivers, they will improve general driving standards of their bus drivers by aiming to train and certify 1800 bus drivers to advanced driving standards, using the Institute of Advanced Motoring training programmes. They will also produce improved vehicle defecting procedures for the fleet of over 1500 buses. Read more here |
| European Road Safety Charter Summer Campaign |
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In the summer of 2005, a major European Road Safety Charter promoting activity took place: The European Road Safety Charter Summer Campaign. This campaign was supported by the Association of European tolled motorways (ASECAP) and their members. People going south for their holidays were asked how they would contribute to increased road safety in Europe. An Evaluation Committee has now selected the winner. Daniela Pini who is a teacher for primary and kindergarten children has made an innovative and fun game for children to learn about road safety. The game involves a monitor dressed as a traffic warden who guides the participants, on scooters or pedal cars, through the various pitfalls. There are rules and games and quizzes on road safety and, at the end of the course, scores are awarded in accordance with correct responses and mistakes made on the journey. Mrs. Pini is invited to participate in the “34th Study and Information Days ASECAP 2006” conference in Pula, Croatia. |
| European Road Safety Charter Events |
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Presentation of the European Road Safety Charter in Copenhagen, Denmark The conference “Kører din virksomhed sikkert?” (“Does your company drive safely?”), was held on the 9th March in corporation with the Danish Road Safety Council (RFSF), the Confederation of Danish Industries (DI) and the European Road Safety Charter Team. It was held at the premises of the Confederation of Danish Industries with around 100 business leaders as participants from all sectors from the biggest companies in Denmark.  Stine Jensen presenting the European Road Safety Charter at the conference. Copyright Rådet for Større Færdselssikkerhed  There were more than 100 people present from the biggest companies in Denmark. Copyright Rådet for Større Færdselssikkerhed The road safety conference in Denmark was characterised by a high involvement from both presenters and participants alike. Several arguments for why it is good practise to make an internal traffic plan and concrete examples on how this can be achieved were presented. As a result of this conference, many entities felt moved to sign the Charter and draw up their own sets of initiatives to help combat road fatalities |
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