INTRODUCTION
THE DISASTER IN A CIVILIAN PERSPECTIVE
Every year more than one million people worldwide loose their lives in road traffic accidents. More than 20 mil people are seriously injured. This means that more people are killed in road traffic accidents than in all the ongoing wars. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that road traffic accidents will become the third largest cause of death in 2020. Road traffic accidents were in 1990 the ninth largest cause of death.
The European Union sees more than 40 000 fatalities and 1,7 million injuries from road traffic accidents every year.
As a consequence of the worldwide road accident development, we can state that the absence of road safety on the roads is a bigger death and injury threat than military operations. With reference to the WHO estimate, we also can assume that the road safety challenge will increase in the coming years.
THE DISASTER IN A MILITARY PERSPECTIVE
Statistics gathered from 13 ECRAF member countries shows that 659 persons are killed and 9 266 persons injured in road traffic accidents in the national armed forces – on and off duty – in the period 2004-2008 – with military or military leased vehicles. In the same period 90 civilian persons are killed by military vehicles or military leased vehicles in road traffic accidents. The repairing costs for the military and military leased vehicles involved in the above referred road traffic accidents, are by 7 countries estimated to 85.500 000 EURO.
The 13 answering counties regarding killed and injured people in road traffic accidents in the armed forces in the period 2004-2008, represent about 44 % of the actual population in the year 2002. By using the population as a reference, we can estimate for the same period that more than 1 500 persons have been killed and more than 21 000 person have been injured in Europe in the same type of accidents. In the same period it is estimated that ca 230 civilian persons are killed by military or military leased vehicles.
By also using the population as a reference for the repairing cost for the same period for Europe, we end up with an estimate of ca. 260 500 000 Euro.The figures and estimates in a military perspective, show that prevention of road traffic accidents also is a huge challenge for armed forces in Europe.
DEVELOPMENT OF STATISTIC DATABASE IN ECRAF ORGANISATION
The Executive Committee has since ECRAF was established worked continuously and a committee started in 2010 to work out a draft project document on “European Standard for Road Traffic Accident Reporting” which again should result in a common statistics Road Traffic Accident Index for the Armed Forces in Europe.
ECRAF has in 2010 two meetings with among others the European Defence Agency (EDA) to obtain a collaboration for developing a statistic database, but is still waiting for an answer. ECRAF decided therefore at its last General Assembly 2012 to try to do it by their own. The Executive Committee at the meeting in Prague December 2012 decided how to do it.