The country’s main traffic safety campaign group has managed to fill a major budget hole that had threatened its existence.
Fresh support from several government ministries and quasi-public organisations has thrown a lifeline to Sécurité Routière after its largest financial backer had cut its annual contribution.
The Insurance Companies Association (ACA) said last year that it would withdraw €275,000 in annual financing starting in 2026, which represented the majority of the campaign group’s budget.
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That prompted Mobility Minister Yuriko Backes to ask the ACA to reduce its support in stages, instead of all at once, according to Isabelle Medinger, director of Sécurité Routière.
The ACA agreed to provide Sécurité Routière with €137,500 in funding this year, €68,750 in 2027 and then dropping to zero starting in 2028, Medinger told the Luxembourg Times.
The mobility ministry said on Monday that it had raised its annual funding of Sécurité Routière from €125,000 to €200,000 per year starting in 2026.
Other funders have also stepped up and Sécurité Routière has been able to shift some of its expenses to other organisations, Medinger said in an interview on Tuesday.
The Driving Safety Training Centre in Colmar-Berg has taken over holding court-ordered awareness courses for drivers with suspended licenses. This has freed up €50,000 from Sécurité Routière’s budget and allowed it to focus on educational and awareness campaigns.
The National Society of Automotive Traffic (SNCA), Luxembourg’s driver license and vehicle registration agency, has taken on €35,000 in printing costs for the road traffic regulations guidebook Code de la route Populaire, Medinger said.
The education ministry will contribute €50,000 a year for educational materials the organisation has been providing for ‘young cyclist’ courses for primary school pupils and for ‘young pedestrian’ courses for pre-schoolers, Medinger said.
The home affairs ministry has stumped up €20,000 a year and the health and social security ministry has restored €70,000 in accident prevention campaign funding that was cut several years ago.
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Medinger said the organisation has approached several “foundations in Luxembourg” about financing future projects.
Sécurité Routière “needs to keep up” its fundraising efforts to replace revenue that will disappear next year, she said. But the organisation is “proud” it was able to plug the funding gap “after two very hard years.”
Even after the extended ACA support runs out, the campaign group expects to have a surplus of about €25,000 a year.
The not-for-profit association Sécurité Routière was founded in 1960, runs the road safety campaigns widely seen across Luxembourg, and publishes often-cited accident statistics and reports.
