Brussels, 21/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament today wanted to compensate for the Commission's lack of clarity over road safety, further to its presentation and the strategic communication on road safety proposed by the European Commission one year ago. The MEPs of the transport committee today adopted an own-initiative report by German MEP Koch (EPP) which goes further than the Commission, targeting specific recommendations to effectively halve the number of road accidents by 2020, a key objective of the Commission.
Some of the Parliament's proposals concentrate on pedestrians and cyclists as vulnerable users, encouraging them, amongst other things, to wear reflective vests - the well-known high visibility tabard - from dusk, and helmets for cyclists. Other proposals focus on eye tests to be repeated for drivers every 10 years, and every five years from the age of 65.
The MEPs are particularly concerned about drink-driving, on which subject zero tolerance is recommended, particularly during the first two years after passing one's test, and for professional drivers. The report also looks at fitting all vehicles, under certain conditions, with systems preventing drivers from operating under the influence (alcolocks), although proposals on this have already been discussed at length. The report also urges harmonisation of upper blood alcohol limits across the Union. Still on harmonisation, the MEPs voted in favour of standardisation of speed limits (30km/h in urban areas) and definitions of road traffic accidents, also in order to make it easier to compare the figures. However, during the debates which preceded the vote, many MEPs also stressed the need to allow the local authorities to legislate as best they can on the basis of the specific characteristics of the area. In this sense, Koch reiterated that his report has no legislative value, and that is more up to the member states to find solutions to halve the numbers of deaths on their roads.
Cross-border sanctions. Still on the subject of road safety, the Parliament held an exchange of views at this meeting of the committee on transport on the cross-border application of sanctions related to road traffic, further to a clarification by MEP Ayala Sender (S&D, Spain), rapporteur on the issue. It was stated that the measures recommended would overall make it easier to exchange information across borders on road safety infringements, that a compromise would have been hard to reach with the Council and Commission and that the Parliament is set to adopt it at second reading in early July.