Safer, smarter roads to be discussed on Europe Day 2014

The European Commission (EC) and the Greek presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) has decided to focus on safer and smarter roads for the upcoming Europe Day on May 9, the bloc said on its website. Experts, policy makers, industry and NGOs will gather in Athens to discuss roads and infrastructure during the 6th European Road Safety Day. "The EU has an outstanding road safety record in global comparison," said EC's Vice-President and Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas, "But as long as there are fatal accidents on our roads, we cannot afford to be complacent." According to statistics, some 26,000 people died on EU roads in 2013. Safety efforts for European infrastructure have so far focused primarily on motorways, the EC said, citing that only 7 percent of all road fatalities in the EU occur today on motorways. A question to be discussed at the European Road Safety Day is how to spread the benefits of safer motorways to the inter-urban road network where most fatal accidents occur today. The conference will also discuss what can be done to roll out more intelligent transport systems with greater road safety potential such as real-time warnings about dangerous road conditions and automatic e-calls for help in case of an accident