| National Charter Tour

 

The National Charter Tour in Copenhagen was a big success, due to the high quality of actions presented and also due to the number of participants: nearly 100 people were in attendance.

The Minister of Transport, Mr. Lars Barfoed, considered the Charter meeting an important event and was impressed by the number of participants. He acknowledged the involvement of all the organisations and underlined the importance that all stakeholders would take their part to improve road safety.

 

Mr. Martin Åström, Head of Information in the EC representation, spoke on behalf of Ms. Isabelle Kardacz, Head of Road Safety Unit in the DG TREN, European Commission, who presented new challenges for Europe as it is now probable that the objective set in 2001 – to halve the number of dead on the EU roads by 2010 – will not be reached. More efforts need to be made and greater awareness to be spread: “This National Charter Tour is the evidence that road safety has increased its visibility in Denmark”.

 

During the European Road Safety Charter signing ceremony, each commitment proposed by the signatories was briefly presented. The content of the commitments proved the richness, the variety and the professionalism of the activities that will be developed by the participants. Also present were the representatives of three organisations that had previously signed or renewed their commitment and had pioneered road safety actions at national level: Danish Transport and Logistics Association (DTL), Carlsberg and Colas Denmark.

 

18 new signatories have joined the European Road Safety Charter initiative during the event, together with 11 current signatories that took this opportunity to renew their commitments, proving the continuity of their efforts and activities on improving road safety.

 

The new signatories are:

Bryggeriforeningen / Danish Brewers Association; Codan; Dansk Fodgængerforbund / Danish Pedestrians Confederation; Danske Busvognmænd / Danish Bus and Coach Owners Association; Danske Fragtmænd; Danske Speditører / Danish Freight Forwarders Association; DI Transport / The Danish Transport Federation; Fagligt Fælles Forbund (3F) / United Federation of Danish Workers; Falck; Helsingør Kommune / Ellsinore Municipality; Hjerneskadeforeningen / Danish Brain Injury Association; ITSDanmark; Kuwait Petroleum (Denmark) A/S / Q8 Denmark; Odense Kommune / Odense Municipality; Rambøll Danmark A/S; Skole og Samfund / National Association of School Parents; Transportøkonomisk Forening / Danish Society for Transport Economics; Transporterhvervets UddannelsesRåd / Transport Training Board of Denmark.

 

The renewed signatories are:

Business Danmark; Dansk Cyklist Forbund / Danish Cyklists Confederation; Diageo Denmark A/S; Forsikring & Pension / The Danish Insurance Association; Frederiksberg Kommune / Frederiksberg Municipality; GODA; H. P. Therkelsen A/S International Transport; Københavns Kommune, Center for Trafik / Municipality of Copenhagen, Centre for Traffic; Rådet for Sikker Trafik / Danish Road Safety Council; TrygVesta; Ældre Sagen / Dane Age Association.

 

Ms. Martine Aitken, European Road Safety Charter Project Coordinator, presented the new trends of the initiative to date, underlining the fact that this is the largest road safety platform, with more than 1.600 signatories. She announced the creation of the new virtual Danish Community, with the purpose to share good practice exchanges and continue the dialogue that had been initiated at the Danish signing event.