Safe & Sober Talk held in Poland

Although the number of alcohol-related traffic offences in Poland has decreased over the past years, they have grown more serious and fatal. This is one of the conclusions at the Safe & Sober Talk held today in Poznan, Poland.
Safe & Sober; Bringing an end to drink driving in Poland
The Safe & Sober Campaign covers a series of activities where Volvo Group and the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) are advocating a harmonised BAC level throughout the European Union (0,2%) for breath tests taken from commercial drivers. It aims at raising the awareness of the challenge to reduce the number of fatal road accidents where misuse of alcohol is involved.

Poland hosted the fifth ETSC Safe & Sober Talk as part of the Pan-European campaign for which Volvo Group Representation-EU, Volvo Truck Corporation and Alcohol Countermeasure Systems (ACS) joined forces since January 2007. The Safe & Sober Campaign aims at leveraging awareness for a Pan-European harmonisation in Blood Alcohol Content.

Next to the Minister of Home Affairs, both representatives from Polish Police, the Road Safety Council Poland, the University of Krakow and various Road Safety NGO’s were present at the meeting chaired by ETSC, the European Transport Safety Council.

Focusing on reducing the number of road fatalities caused by mis-use of alcohol in traffic, one of the keynote speakers – Mrs. Ilona Buttler of the Polish Motor Transport Institute - stated that “Poland’s prevention policy over the last 10 to 15 years has produced a steady reduction in road accidents involving alcohol mis-use. That reduction has slowed down recently and therefore we have to adapt our policies quickly”.

Lennart Pilskog, Director Public Affairs Volvo Truck Corporation, delivered a keynote address in which he outlined how alcohol interlock systems can help to reduce the number of fatalities on the road involving mis-use of alcohol dramatically. “This is no rocket science. Alcohol Interlocks are reliable and qualitative devices available on the market today. In order to achieve the EU target in halving the number of road fatalities by 2010, we need continue our efforts. We are reducing the number of casualties but not fast enough. Volvo Truck Corporation wants to play a leading role when it comes to promoting the voluntary use of alcohol interlock systems”

A more detailed report can be obtained from Volvo Group Representation, EU.
Dirk De Muynck, Director Communications & Media Relations.
dirk.de.muynck@volvo.com
+32 475 93 58 81