Vision Zero in EU Policy: An NGO Perspective

Townsend, Ellen; Avenoso, Antonio · 2022 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-23176-7_16-1

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Summary

This chapter, authored by representatives of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), documents the historical integration of the "Vision Zero" philosophy into European Union road safety policymaking from the mid-1980s to the present. The authors aim to trace how the core elements of Vision Zero—ethics, shared responsibility, a safety philosophy that absorbs human error, and mechanisms for change—evolved from initial advocacy to formal adoption in EU strategy. The text is written from an NGO perspective, leveraging institutional experience and official documents to analyze the cyclical nature of EU decision-making, including the roles of the European Commission, Parliament, and Council, as well as the legal frameworks provided by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The analysis begins by defining Vision Zero, originally adopted by Sweden in 1997, which posits that human life should not be traded for mobility and that system designers must ensure safety even when users make errors. The authors then chronicle the early roots of EU road safety policy, noting that while the EU established its first action plan in 1993 and recognized transport safety as a competence in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, Vision Zero was not yet part of the discourse. During the 1984–2000 period, ETSC and the European Parliament advocated for numerical targets and ethical considerations, but the EU lacked a unified vision. Between 2001 and 2010, the EU adopted its first numerical target to halve road deaths by 2010. The Third Road Safety Action Programme (2003) explicitly incorporated Vision Zero elements such as shared responsibility and the philosophy that systems must protect users from their own shortcomings, though it did not formally endorse the Vision Zero label. The pivotal moment occurred in 2011 with the adoption of the Transport White Paper, which formally integrated Vision Zero into EU policy. This was supported by the European Parliament and reinforced by the Valletta Declaration, which established a serious injury target alongside the fatality target. The chapter highlights that the current EU road safety strategy fully adopts Vision Zero’s four key elements. Recent implementation is evidenced by specific legislation, including the General Safety Regulation on vehicle standards and the Infrastructure Safety Directive, which operationalize the Safe System approach. The authors conclude that while Vision Zero is now embedded in EU policy, the renewal of this approach alongside the Safe System methodology is essential to deliver the ultimate goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries. The text underscores the critical role of civil society and consistent political will in driving these legislative and strategic changes.

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• traffic safety culture