Slovakia has preliminarily met its 2002 pledge to the European Union (EU) to cut its annual number of road fatalities in half by 2010, said Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák at a news conference on June 29.
In 2002, 610 people were killed in road accidents in Slovakia, meaning that a reduction of 305 was required by this year. According to Kaliňák, 347 people were killed on Slovak roads in 2009, so the number of fatalities had to be reduced by at least another 42 this year. As of June 28, 2010, ministry statistics show that the death toll in 2010 so far, compared to the same period in 2009, was down by 43.
"This means that we've achieved the number needed to meet the pledge as early as in the first half [of 2010]," the minister said, as reported by the TASR newswire, adding that the number of road accidents and casualties is continuing to fall. "I'm confident that by the end of the year we can meet the pledge to the European Union by a wide margin," he said. Kaliňák ascribed the decline to the new Road Act that came into force in 2009.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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