BELGRADE – In a stride towards enhancing road safety measures, Serbia has officially become a member of the Community Database for Road Accident Data (CARE). This achievement not only marks an important step for Serbia but also holds broader implications for the entire Western Balkan region.
To mark this accomplishment, the Transport Community Permanent Secretariat organised an event titled “Serbia joining EU CARE Database on Road Crashes” in Belgrade on 1 December. The event brought together key stakeholders who have played crucial roles in the successful implementation of this pilot project and in advancing the road safety agenda in Serbia.
The inclusion of Serbia in CARE as an observer is viewed as an important step in aligning with European Union regulations concerning road crash statistics. Road safety awareness is a critical issue that demands a multi-layered approach, and this event acknowledged the collaborative efforts that led to the achievement.
Representatives from various sectors who have contributed to this initiative shared insights, fostering an environment for future road safety initiatives.
Welcoming the participants, Director of the Transport Community Permanent Secretariat, Mr Matej Zkonjšek, congratulated the authorities on the achievement and underlined that achieving the vision 0, where there are no fatalities and serious injuries on the roads, remain a key task of all relevant stakeholders.
Thanking the Transport Community and other institutions involved in this endeavour, Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of Serbia, H.E. Mr Goran Vesić, said that without appropriate data and analysis it is not possible to plan measures and make decisions in the field of improving traffic safety. “We want to be a society where road users are in the focus, where there is absolute road safety for every road user. It is our duty to make sure that we provide that security at any cost,” he highlighted.
Highlighting the need for a continuous and collaborative work, Head of Road Safety Unit at the European Commission’s DG MOVE, Ms Claire Depré, said that Serbia’s road fatality rate remains high compared with an EU average and added that Serbia is clearly on the right track to significantly reduce this numbers. “Together with the Transport Community, we in DG MOVE are there to support you,” she pointed out.
Mr Branko Stamatović, Acting Director of the Road Traffic Safety Agency of Serbia, said that Serbia has become the first regional partner in the Western Balkans to participate in the European Union expert group for traffic safety. “The representatives of the Agency participated for the first time in the meeting of this group in Brussels in October of this year. This means a lot to us, and we hereby express our willingness to share our experiences with other partners in the region, so that we all have comparable data, encourage regional cooperation and jointly contribute to safer road traffic in the entire Balkans,” he underlined.
“The traffic safety strategy of Serbia for the period from 2023 to 2030 sets ambitious goals that we want to achieve, and one of the main goals is to be among the 10 safest European countries when it comes to road safety”, Head of the Traffic Police Directorate of Serbia, Mr Slaviša Lakićević, told the participants and underlined that he believes that the accession of Serbia to the CARE traffic accident database is one of the major steps towards that ambitious goal.
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Learn more about the Western Balkans Road Safety Observatory here.
Read more about the Transport Community’s Road Safety Action Plan here.
