Just now you have in your hands the new edition of the Czech Republic Transport Yearbook, this time the Yearbook for year 2000, which was published in the middle of August 2001. The publisher's effort to publish this Yearbook by the end of the middle of the year strikes on the terms of deadline of macroeconomic data, which are published in the Introduction of this Yearbook and are submitted by the Czech Statistical Office.
In comparison with the other similar publications of the other branches it is possible without an exaggeration to rate this edition very high with regard to comments from abroad. At the present stage of joining the European Union we're often inquired and requested after presenting first of all global and aggregating data, which shall serve for the comparison with both EU candidate countries and member states of the European Union. For basic areas of transport sector, namely: for transport performance, statistical data on transport infrastructure and vehicle fleet, as well as on accidents and a development in the field of transport environmental impact this Yearbook is the first and in many cases quite sufficient source of necessary data. The comparative section with selected countries was rated very high, both the general data and the statistical information on transport sector. It manifests itself in the active co-operation in the framework of EUROSTAT Working Group and in the harmonisation of European Union Transport Statistics.
I would like to outline the aims, which, however, will not be realized within a year. Published data series give certain possibilities of their analyses and the determination of certain connections. It would be the successive step, which will become an important element for transport policy realization. The factual part of Yearbook will connect with its analytical part, which will monitor a development in transport sector and in transportation from the view of transport performance and transport flows. For the next edition of the Transport Yearbook a certain regionalization of these areas will already prepare, which will be used also for decision - makers at regional level.
The next step will be the very important aim, namely: determination and specification of transportation and transport prognosis, again both from the view of transport performances, and from the view of transport flows for individual modes of transport. The effort indeed will be focused on minimising all social costs of transport including external costs, especially from the view of environmental changes caused.
The complex of above-mentioned materials would then become a basic facilitation for decision making processes at National level (in International context) as well as at regional level, namely, not only for related authorities and bodies, but also for a wide business community and thereby also for professionals and public concerned.
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Josef Zatloukal Director of the Transport Policy, |