Brussels, 27/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - As the number of road victims reaches the equivalent of 250 airline accidents annually, the European Parliament has thrown itself into the fray by suggesting over 100 measures for improving road safety in the European Union. At the initiative of Koch Dieter-Lebrecht (EPP, Germany), a report along these lines was approved by the European Parliament during its plenary session on 27 September. It aims to guide the Commission towards its goal of halving the number of people killed on Europe's roads by 2020. Dieter-Lebrecht Koch's report seeks to be more ambitious and specific than the guidelines set out by the Commission at the end of 2010, and calls on the institution to set in place, by the end of the year, an action plan on this basis with a clear timetable.
Much of this innovative course has found an echo with DG Transport, Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said during parliamentary debates held the previous day. The high level group on road safety will, moreover, be meeting in October to discuss the practical implementation of Commission guidelines. Also, experts are already hard at work developing a common definition of injuries. The commissioner also pointed out that the Commission will soon be carrying out an impact study before any legislative decision is taken. Finally, Kallas also toned down Koch's request for the designation of a European Union road safety coordinator. The commissioner believes it is a more a matter of setting an ambassador in place whose mission it would be to promote action in favour of road safety rather have a coordinator for such action.
The Parliament's “tool box” recommends improvements in a number of areas such as road signs, data collection, infrastructure and vehicle safety, the promotion of intelligent electronic safety equipment, and the protection of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motor-cyclists. The report is above all marked by its resolve to harmonise legislation at European level with, for example, an EU-wide speed limit of 30 km/hr in residential areas, standard technical controls, a ban on writing text messages (SMS) when driving, and the establishment of a maximum blood alcohol content. A zero tolerance alcohol level while driving is, moreover, one of the pillars of the recommendations with its ban for professional and young drivers, systematic use of “alcolocks” (alcohol tests that block ignition) on commercial goods and passenger vehicles. The resolution adopted also provides for eye-tests to be carried out every ten years, the introduction of a point-licence with penalties in addition to fines, and the ban on systems warning drivers that there are radars in position. (MD/transl.jl)