Brussels, 07/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - Drivers who commit an offence on the roads outside their country of residency will no longer escape punishment. European Directive 2011/82/EU, which ensures cooperation between member states in this area, came into force on 7 November. It is expected to have a positive impact on improving road safety. It is thought that drivers, in the belief that they are not going to be punished, are three times more likely to commit an offence whilst driving abroad. This week, Commissioner Siim Kallas spoke out on this subject and said that everything was going to change because now “offenders will be identified and pursued”.
National authorities will cooperate to locate and penalise drivers breaching the rules of a member state where they are not resident. Data on car registration, the time, date, place and kind of offence will only be used in the context of the penalty being imposed. This will be notified in a letter to the vehicle-owner, who will be able to contest the fine if he or she was not the driver at fault. The directive focuses on eight kinds of offences that create the most risks to road safety: speed, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, not wearing a safety belt or using a mobile phone, failure to stop at a red light, using the hard shoulder and failing to wear a helmet whilst riding a two-wheeled vehicle.
The executive director of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), Antoni Avenoso, said that it is only fair that the authorities apply the highway code to all those using the roads and hoped that the directive would increase the “potential for saving lives”.
The deadline for transposing this directive was 7 November and Kallas stated that the Commission would be “monitoring member states to check that their national rules effectively complied with European rules”. He also asserted that he would not hesitate to take action if this was not so. (MD/transl.fl)