The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has issued its 49th Road Safety PIN Flash Report, revealing that Cyprus, along with 10 other nations, is responding positively regarding the state’s procedures for buying, leasing, and renting vehicles for work purposes.

The report, published this week as part of the Road Safety PIN programme, presents data on work-related road deaths and serious injuries across the 27 European Union member states, as well as Switzerland, Israel, Norway, Serbia, and the United Kingdom.

It states that a large number of work-related road deaths and serious injuries occur every year in the EU, but this number “cannot be precisely determined because there is no common definition for a work-related road collision”.

Based on data provided by 16 European countries, the report suggests that 30 per cent to 40 per cent of all road deaths are work-related.

Based on this figure, the annual work-related road deaths across the EU are likely to amount to between 6,000 and 8,000.

The ETSC believes that the problem of work-related road deaths and serious injuries is not being given due importance by the EU and the governments of the member states, and thus makes several recommendations.

Among these is the recommendation for the collection and analysis of comprehensive data on the number of road deaths and serious injuries on an annual basis, which would create a concrete picture and allow for the use of collision data to target and shape risk prevention interventions at the national and EU level.

It is also recommended that a system be created to link data from coroner reports, occupational health and safety reports, and road safety services to determine the true picture of work-related road collision deaths.

Further recommendations include imposing an obligation on employers to adopt the Safe System approach in their work-related road safety activities.

Employers should also be supported and encouraged to fulfil the requirements for conducting work-related road risk assessments.

The ETSC recommends that the EU should make it possible to categorise road deaths and serious injuries involving professional road users, workers on the road, commuters travelling to and from work, and third parties.

Finally, all EU institutions are required to buy, lease, or rent only cars that have been awarded 5 stars by the Euro NCAP rating programme.