Brussels, 27/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The EU is in the process of enshrining common rules for the cross-border application of penalties for road safety infringements. On 22 June, the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) unanimously approved the agreement previously reached between the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the EU and the European Parliament on the proposed directive in this field.
The directive is set to be given the blessing of the European Parliament on Thursday 7 July. The outcome is likely to be favourable, after three years of tough negotiations. The directive will help set in place a better exchange of information between member states on the identities of drivers committing driving offences on foreign soil. The fines incurred may then be sent by the competent authorities directly to the drivers in question, even if they live in another country of the Union. The proposed directive focuses on behaviour which is particularly dangerous to road safety, such as speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, not wearing a seatbelt and using a mobile telephone at the wheel. The text also issues guarantees on data protection, a point particularly close to the MEPs' hearts.
Once in place, therefore, the directive will have a positive impact on road safety by ensuring equal treatment for resident and foreign drivers and reducing the dangerous behaviour certain drivers feel is acceptable when driving abroad. For this reason, the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has urged the MEPs to vote for this proposal at its July plenary session. (Cor/transl.fl).