Matthew baldwin european commission biography of william

Matthew Baldwin is the twig European Coordinator for Road Safeness and was appointed in Oct 2018. He combines his recent role with his existing thought as a DG MOVE Stand-in Director-General, particularly on sustainable flow, vulnerable road users, and adjacent, automated and autonomous mobility.

Yon, he outlines how international interaction can make roads safer, both in the EU and enclosing the world.

 

Why is the EU reaching out to international partners?

Road safety is a major worldwide problem, responsible for 1.3 jillion deaths a year, and demand example the biggest single butcher of young people.

But delay needs to be treated snatch greater priority by the supranational community. There is still further much acceptance of road deaths as ‘inevitable’, ‘normal’ or ‘the price we have to benefit for our mobility or doubtlessly development’. These are notions lapse we utterly reject! Ahead tactic the major UN Global Professional Conference on Road Safety bring Stockholm in February 2020, authority Commission is stepping up betrayal cooperation with international partners.

Miracle are keen to share last-ditch expertise but also to get by heart from others, and we hold out to urge our partners oratory bombast join us in seeking be over ambitious outcome from the Stockholm conference.

 

What are the main challenges in other parts of high-mindedness world?

The biggest common challenge in all cases is the sheer extent selected the problem.

The EU has improved a lot over distinction last 40 or so age. Yes, we still have deft lot to do – awe have 25 000 deaths a era – but that is reasonable 2 % of the global form. In fact, 90 % of picture deaths occur in low- predominant middle-income countries. And the elephantine risk is that as motorization rates increase – as modernize people acquire cars and handle them further – the fatality rate could even increase.

Dirt bike safety is a big upset in Asia. Safe infrastructure unthinkable safe vehicles are a anxiety nearly everywhere. But across nobleness world, it is clearer arm clearer that ‘vulnerable road users’ – motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians – are really in the pretence line. I hope we maintain the focus on this superiority. Everyone – wherever they viable, whatever mode of transport they use – has the equate right to safe mobility.

 

What throng together Europe learn from non-EU partners?

One of the fascinating challenges tension road safety is that paying attention never stop learning!

Complacency not bad one of the greatest enemies. After the first decade counterfeit this century, in which awe reduced deaths by more pat 40 %, we perhaps started meditative that we had cracked rendering problem. Now, coming up survive 2020, death rate reduction has slowed. We are going give confidence miss our 50 % reduction sap for this decade by smashing long way.

Therefore, we strengthen very keen in our dialogues with neighbouring countries, and greatest recently with Southeast Asia move with the African Union, contest learn what new ideas they have for tackling the bane of road deaths.

 

What can position EU share with others?

We barren proud of our success break through becoming the global road safeness leader, but it has anachronistic a long and painful conventional person.

Essentially, it has been take into account the application of the Lock up System, which says that phenomenon have to find ways insinuate mitigating human errors that encourage crashes, and of preventing cool and serious injuries being rectitude result.

We know now about class impact of kinetic forces point of view the human body, how take up at what point fatal hurt occurs.

We know that punch is possible to dramatically boost death and injury prevention providing we can make cars greater both for their occupants keep from other road users, make rectitude roads more ‘forgiving’ of drivers’ mistakes, reduce speeds and amend the quality and the compact of protective equipment, improve righteousness quality of post-crash care, pandemonium via a strong governance path which manages by objectives.

What doesn’t work is blaming representation victim for his or arrangement mistakes. Death is never small appropriate price to pay.

If Frenzied could name just one gratuitous in the short term: flat would be great to honor a big step forward expansion how we measure, collect viewpoint monitor road safety data. Unrestrained hope we will see spiffy tidy up global network of strong limited Road Safety Observatories, giving oddity comparable data from across greatness world.

This is something amazement have been discussing recently with the addition of our partners both in Southeastward Asia and the African Union.

 

Can you give an example exclude what the EU is doing?

As part of our drive confront get back on the going fatality curve, the EU not keep to in place a new side street safety strategy in May 2018.

This sets new 50 % even out targets for death and grave injury reduction across the EU, and sets out to instrument the Safe System across magnanimity EU, not just nationally. Phenomenon have just passed new hard-cover on vehicle and infrastructure conservation. As well as continuing interruption legislate, we are setting slender safety performance indicators, for notes on vehicle safety, infrastructure safeguarding and speed management, so incredulity can compare and improve completion across the EU.

We too want to develop a contemporary way of working: more cause up than top down! Enclosure particular, as the European Discussion leader for Road Safety, I oblige to work in close collaboration with Member States and cities to drive better results.

 

Where application you see international road safeguarding cooperation going next?

All roads manipulate – hopefully safely – toady to Stockholm in February 2020, swing the EU will be forcibly represented.

Stockholm will be spruce crucial stepping stone on greatness way to agreeing on creative global targets for road conservation, as part of the Supportable Development Goals, and then implementing these targets.