Brussels, 13/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - If the European Union is to achieve its target of cutting road accidents by 50% by 2020, it will have to step up its game. The fine results of the last ten years were not maintained last year, especially in member states like Germany and Sweden recognised for their good records. To keep the EU on track, the Commission brought forward proposals on Friday 13 July for harmonising arrangements for vehicle, and especially scooter and motorbike, testing. This is in response to a damning statistic: technical defects are responsible for 6% of all car accidents and 8% of all motorcycle accidents. This translates to 2,000 fatalities and many more injuries on Europe's roads every year as a result of defective vehicles.
Safety for all Europeans. “If you're driving a car which is not fit to be on the road, you're a danger to yourself and to everyone else in your car - your family, your friends, your business colleagues. What's more, you're a danger to all the other road users around you. It's not complicated: we don't want these potentially lethal cars on our roads”, said Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas. He has proposed, then, the review of three European directives on vehicle testing and registration, harmonising standards of testing and roadworthiness across the EU since everyone, in every member state, has a right to travel safely on the roads.
Tougher standards. Throughout the EU, vehicle testing is compulsory. In some, however, testing is carried out more regularly and is more thorough. The Commission wants to harmonise testing, particularly with regard to the age and mileage of vehicles. Cars of more than five or six years old are much more likely to have technical defects which result in fatal accidents. All vehicles registered in the EU will, therefore, have to be tested after four years. The next roadworthiness test should take place two years later (when the car is six years old) and thereafter every year. Rules will be even tougher for vehicles which travel more than 160,000 kilometres per year (for example taxis or ambulances) as testing will be required every year once the vehicle is five years old. Twelve countries, almost half of all member states, will have to amend their laws.
Testing is to become compulsory for all scooters and motorbikes: “Motorbike and scooter riders, particularly young riders, are the highest risk group of road users”, the Commission points out. Currently 11 member states do not require any testing of scooters and motorbikes, but once the legislation has been passed, these vehicles will be subject to the same testing regime as cars.
Among other improvements proposed by the Commission, the quality of vehicle tests will be improved by setting common minimum standards for the whole of the EU. Defects will be classed according to seriousness, and testing equipment and the training of those carrying out the inspections will also have to meet common standards. The mileage of the vehicle will have to be recorded at each test (to avoid fraud) and electronic components, such as airbags and breaking systems, will have to be tested, as these are just as liable to become defective as mechanical parts.
Usefulness questioned. The new arrangements cannot come into force overnight. The legislative procedure will take around two years to complete before member states have to apply these rules, rules which may be costly (a vehicle test costs on average between €40 and €50) but are certainly of benefit to road safety. The investment is worthwhile as it could save more than 1,200 lives a year and to avoid more than 36,000 accidents linked to technical failure. However, the European Region of the FIA (Fédération international de l'automobile) wants to see justification, and German calls are likely to follow soon. “Before more regular testing of older cars becomes mandatory, the Commission must prove that the safety benefits of any such change outweigh any associated cost to the consumer”, said FAI Europe Director General Jacob Bangsgaard. Further stirring the controversy pot, he highlighted German figures which show that most of the older cars involved in accidents are driven be young drivers. (MD/transl.rt)