| National Charter Tour

 

The National Charter Tour in Berlin had been fortunate to have representatives from the European Commission DG TREN headquarters and key road safety organisations in Germany. Mr Walter Nissler, representing the EC, reinforced the need for more efforts in order to implement the new road safety plan for the next ten years and commented that we have enough laws and experiences to reach the set goals by the European Commission.

 

Mr Christian Kellner, the German Road Safety Council’s (DVR) Chief Executive, highlighted Germany’s advances and success in terms of implementation of road safety policies and said that we still have to manage to reduce the number of victims by 40% in Europe, and therefore DVR is expanding its road safety campaigns at national level in order to contribute to the common goal of saving 25,000 lives a year.

 

ADAC, the largest Automobile club in Europe, by Mr Björn Dosch – Head of Transport Affairs, echoed the importance of the aims and objectives of the European Road Safety Charter, as well as the key issues in Germany. He stated that the Charter is, above all, a common umbrella for road safety activities within civil society and that ADAC’s activities are in line with these objectives.

 

The National Charter Tour also enables the opportunity to gain citizens’ views on road safety issues at a local and national level. A citizens’ forum was held the night before the signing event and these issues discussed are directly fed back to the European Commission and made available on the ERS Charter portal.

 

By signing the European Road Safety Charter the 25 entities representing a varied range of stakeholders amongst which were German enterprises, non-governmental organisations, local and public authorities, demonstrated their determination to contribute to the reduction of fatalities and accidents on Germany’s roads.  These organisations are committing to road safety action plans for a three year period and also pledge to share best practices and research on a European level through the European Road Safety Charter platform, which can be accessed in all the European languages.

 

All the 21 new and the 4 renewed commitments can be found on the Charter website alongside a unique German community that encourages the exchange of ideas and networking between all signatories.

 

The 25 signatories from the Berlin event are: EAC European Aotomobile CLubs, AXA AG, AXA Winterthur, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Berufsbildungszentrum für den Straßenverkehr GmbH, European Association of Automotive Suppliers CLEPA, Fachverband Fußverkehr Deutschland FUSS e.V., Forum Verkehrssicherheit Hamburg, Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH, Kreisverkehrswacht Schwäbisch Hall e.V., Linde AG, Olympus Europa Holding GmbH, Ordnungspartnerschaft Verkehrsunfallprävention Münster, Polizeidirektion Schwäbisch Hall, Signal Iduna Versicherungsgruppe, Sony Europe, Stadt Hochheim am Main, Unfallopfer - Hilfswerk GmbH, Deutsche Verkehrswissenschaftliche Gesellschaft, VdM - Verband der Motorjournalisten e.V., Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft (VBG), ADAC, Automobil Club Von Deutschland e.V., Dekra, Deutsche Post.