Consegnata la petizione al Commissario Europeo ai Trasporti
Bruxelles, 6 Ottobre 2012
Il recente incidente nel tunnel Sierre in Svizzera, dove hanno perso la vita 28 persone tra cui 22 bambini, ha innescato numerose discussioni tra addetti alla sicurezza stradale.
La collisione è avvenuta sulla parete di fondo di una piazzola di emergenza nel tunnel Sierre, inaugurato nel 1999 e valutato come "buono" in un test EuroTAP 2005. La parete posta a 90 gradi rispetto alla direzione di scorrimento dei veicoli e apparentemente senza adeguata protezione.
Una ispezione della sicurezza stradale come disciplinata dalla direttiva 2008/96/CE del 19 novembre 2008 sulla gestione della sicurezza delle infrastrutture stradali, avrebbe potuto evidenziare il pericolo.
Tuttavia, la direttiva 2008/96/CE non si applica alle gallerie stradali, che sono invece disciplinate dalla direttiva 2004/54/CE, che però non prevede audit o ispezioni all'interno delle gallerie: solo uno dei suoi quattro elementi è legato alle infrastrutture dei tunnel, ma l'attenzione è incentrata sulla buona illuminazione e ventilazione come primari obiettivi di sicurezza.
La lettera in Inglese al Commissario Europeo ai trasporti, firmata da oltre 50 istituzioni e stakeholders Europei, chiede una armonizzazione tra le due direttive, in modo da consentire una maggiore e più efficace prevenzione da questo tipo di incidenti.
La lettera con tutte le firme è stata consegnata a Bruxelles al Commissario ai Trasporti dall'Ing. Carlo Polidori il 6 ottobre 2012
TEXT OF THE LETTER
To: Siim Kallas, European Commissioner
CALL FOR HARMONISATION OF EU DIRECTIVES (Directive 2008/96/EC and Directive 2004/54/EC)
We the undersigned, write in response to the recent coach crash in Switzerland that caused more than 28 fatal casualties, including 22 children.
As international practitioners and academics in road safety and, following discussion and debate about the circumstances and outcome of this collision, whose dramatic consequences we consider to have been entirely preventable , we call upon the European Commission to commence proceedings aimed at harmonising two existing Directives relating to Tunnel design and management of Road Safety infrastructure within Member States.
It is evident that this collision occurred on the end wall of an emergency parking facility in the Sierre tunnel, opened in 1999 and rated as "good" in a 2005 EuroTAP test. The end wall was placed at 90 degrees with respect to the direction of the adjacent traffic flow and apparently without adequate protection from collision. Such hazards are able to be identified through road safety audit and inspections operations which are now regulated by Directive 2008/96/EC of 19 November 2008 on road infrastructure safety management which requires the establishment and implementation of procedures relating to road safety assessments by all Member States.
However, this Directive does not apply to road tunnels covered by Directive 2004/54/EC. (Art.1, point 4). In addition, that Directive doesn't deal with road safety audit or inspections inside the tunnels: only one of its four elements is related to tunnel infrastructure, but attention is centred on good lighting and ventilation as the primary safety objectives.
It is our opinion that the risk of a collision in this tunnel with the end wall feature described was entirely foreseeable and would have been identified through systematic road safety audit or inspections, which seeks to prevent accidents. We also consider this feature of Tunnel design to be a typical case in tunnels, where a road safety audit during the design process or a road safety inspection after opening to traffic could have advised the road manager about the risk.
Furthermore, we consider road safety audits and inspections to be very important tools, complementary to the tunnel's designing and operating phases: such tools should be integrated by the concept of forgiveness of the infrastructure
We are addressing this petition to the Commission at the beginning of the Decade of Action for Road Safety to call for an initiative that aims to fill the gap between the two Directives and therefore contribute to further reduction of road traffic collision fatalities in Europe. We would recommend a workshop in Brussels to find the way of the integration of the 2 Directives, as well as a meeting of road safety responsibles from Member States to agree common objectives to be achieved within this Decade.
(Signatures of all the subjects that join this initiative)