RSA welcomes Portuguese delegation to share best practice in road safety

• EU Road Safety Exchange reaffirms the importance of international cooperation in achieving global road safety targets 
• Ireland to partner with Portugal and Romania to share ideas for improving road safety

Ireland has been twinned with Portugal and Romania as part of a new EU road safety project.  The EU Road Safety Exchange Project 2019-2021 aims to reduce the overall number of road deaths and serious injuries on EU roads. The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is hosting its first meeting with the Portuguese delegation in Dublin this week to share learnings of successful policy development.

In a two-day visit, the RSA, Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, An Garda Síochána, Medical Bureau of Road Safety and the DPP, will outline the Irish experience of tackling drink driving and speeding with delegates from Portugal as they continue to refine policy approaches to improve their road safety performance. The Portuguese delegation is accompanied by Mr. Matthew Baldwin, European Coordinator Road Safety and Deputy Director General and DG MOVE.

Commenting on the event, Moyagh Murdock, RSA Chief Executive said: “Ireland is recognised as an example of best practice in road safety. We were the second safest European Union Member State in 2018 and globally Ireland is ranked fourth safest country in the world. Evidence-based policies are key to saving lives on our roads and Ireland has a long-standing appreciation for the value of learning from international best practice in refining our approach to policy design and development.

Equally, we feel that Ireland has a role to play in helping other countries, who have a poorer road safety record, to reduce deaths and injuries on their roads. The EU Road Safety Exchange project will provide valuable support to EU member states to improve road safety performance over a three-year period. We are pleased to take part in this important initiative and welcome the Portuguese delegation to Ireland to share our approach in relation to drink driving and speed enforcement.”

The Dublin meeting marks the first in a series of events under the EU Road Safety Exchange to support road safety partnerships between EU member states. The three-year EU Road Safety Exchange project aims to tackle road fatalities by bringing together collective best practice between EU nations. Transport experts from 12 EU member states will come together to share policies and strategies for reducing speed, building safe infrastructure, and improving the safety of cyclists and pedestrians.

The Exchange will focus on the EU member states with the highest potential for achieving improvements in road safety. Ireland is to partner with Portugal on the sharing of best practice related to drink and drug driving, and with Romania in the area of road safety enforcement.

The project is being managed by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), a leading NGO on transport safety that works with road safety experts from across the EU.

In 2018, there were over 25,000 fatalities on European roads. While this is a decrease of 21% compared to 2010, it represents only a 1% decrease compared to 2017.

Background:

The ‘EU Road Safety Exchange’ is a three-year twinning project (2019-2021) that supports improved institutional capacity and exchange of knowledge and best practice on road safety topics between EU Member States. At the core of the project is a series of twinning activities whereby leading EU road safety professionals exchange effective road safety strategies and policies with their counterparts from the selected Member States. The activities will include thematic workshops, webinars, study visits, as well as a best practice seminar in Brussels. The objective of this project is to reduce the overall number of road deaths and serious injuries on EU roads and help close the road safety gap between EU Member States by providing support to those with the highest potential to make significant improvements.