Despite the progress made in other areas of road safety, road works zones remain particularly dangerous areas. Their temporary nature and the lack of information about their presence, reduced lane widths, enforced speed reductions, the presence of men at work, and traffic congestion, are all factors that contribute to making these zones more hazardous than the open road. But steps can be taken to minimise the potential dangers.

The EuroTest 2007 study focused on 50 road work zones across eleven European countries: Germany, Austria, Italy, UK, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Spain, Croatia Denmark and Slovenia. All sites tested were long-term roadworks zones on main European highways.

The safest road works zone this year was found to be in Austria near Enns on the A1 road. Signs were provided to inform motorists about the reason for the length and duration of the road works. Flashing lights were also in place to warn motorists in advance. The speed limit was gradually reduced well ahead of the scheduled work.

For the second consecutive time the last place in this year's test went to Spain. The zone on CM42 near Toledo failed to receive even half the possible number of points. Although the zone was just four kilometres long there were numerous shortcomings including poor signage and lane markings as well as a dangerous separation of two-way traffic and the work area.

A comparison of country results reveals significant variations. The UK and Italy came out top while Slovenia flopped in last position. One special feature in the UK is that road works are often completely re-ordered at night, so that work can be intensified during low-traffic hours. This required special night time testing with a separate rating. But even in the dark, the UK road works received an average score of 90 per cent.

EuroTest inspectors found the general situation in Slovenia to be poor. When approaching a road works zone there was no information either about the reason for, duration or the overall remaining length of the road work zone. There were no lay-bys and no information about speed enforcement measures. The entry and exit points to the road works were unsafe and original road markings were not removed and thus confusing to the motorist especially at night.

The FIA believes that legislation is crucial to reduce the gap in safety between the newer and the older member states. Indeed the European Road Infrastructure Safety Management Directive specifically highlights hazardousness of road works zones in need of attention. The entry into force of this directive expected to be adopted under the forthcoming Slovenian EU Presidency should give especially new member states the necessary tools to upgrade their road network.