TOWARDS ZERO ACCIDENTS

Traffic accidents are one of the world’s major public health problems. According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.2 million people are killed and 50 million are injured in traffic every year. Road traffic accidents are the most common cause of death among young people in many parts of the world. In the United States, there were an estimated 33,963 motor vehicle related fatalities in 2009. This is one reason why the Volvo Group strongly supports the decision of the United Nations to proclaim 2011 - 2020 the Decade of Action for road safety aiming at saving 5 million lives over 10 years.


Volvo Group recently declared their new safety vision and it is quite simple: Zero accidents with Volvo Group products!
When the Volvo Group was established in 1927, our founders decided that Safety should be one of the core guiding principles of development and production of our vehicles. We know that if safety is one of the product design priorities, it is possible to significantly reduce the number of causalities on our roads. In the EU, for instance, the number of fatalities in traffic has been reduced by half since 1990. A major contributing factor to this has been the development of safer vehicles.
Today, despite the economic downturn, Volvo Group’s investment in R&D has remained unchanged. In 2009, we invested almost $2 billion in R&D efforts to further reduce engine emission and lower fuel consumption, but also in large part to continue developing safer products.
In addition to our commitment to continued improvements in the safety of our vehicles, we also possess a great deal of knowledge gathered by our Traffic Accident Team over the last 40 years. They have investigated accidents on-site and have established a unique bank of information and experience from more than 1,500 accidents. This, in combination with our R&D investment for safer vehicles and in-house test programs, including thousands of various cab crash tests, we hope will one day result in reaching our safety vision of zero accidents with Volvo Group products!
Our safety vision applies equally to construction equipment, marine engines, and all other products of the Volvo Group. We continue to cooperate and establish partnerships with authorities, governments, organizations, and individuals who share our dedication to safety. Together we can make a real difference.

Let's keep America rolling safely!