Brussels, 27/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 26 May, in second reading, the European Parliament approved road safety directives for which adoption and implementation must be simultaneous for technical reasons, as well as a directive on the same problem, at first reading. The reports adopted covered the following aspects: - seats and headrests in motor vehicles: report by Dieter-Lebrecht Koch (EPP-ED, Germany); - safety belts and retaining systems for motor vehicles: report by Paolo Costa (ALDE, Italy); - and motor vehicle frontal protection systems: report by Ewa Hedkvist Petersen (PES, Sweden).
The first three directives make the use and fitting of safety belts compulsory from 2006 in all commercial vehicles, first of all in minibuses and tourist coaches, which have until now been dispensed under Community legislation (Directive 91/671/EEC). The compulsory installation of safety belts will first of all be applied to new kinds of vehicles, and will then concern the new models of vehicles on the production line. In total, two million commercial vehicles should be equipped each year. “The adoption of these directives has enormous importance in the Commission's fight to reduce the number of road accident victims. They establish a uniform legal framework for European makers, putting an end to the divergence between national legislations”, Günter Verheugen, Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, was pleased to state. This important step that has just been crossed should contribute to the objective that the Commission has set itself to reduce the number of road accident victims by half by 2010 (White Paper on European transport policy in the run up to 2010: COM (2001) 0370).
Since the entry into effect of Directive 91/671/EEC, the wearing of safety belts has only been compulsory for tourism vehicles and light commercial vehicles (front seats only), and has only concerned vehicles equipped with belts in accordance with national legislation. The decision therefore fills a gap in the Community legislation when it comes to road safety, although the provisions that it contains are already in force in several Member States. Furthermore, exemptions granted by national authorities for certain vehicle categories will be maintained after entry into force of this package of directives. It is therefore necessary to consider this regularisation at European level of an existing situation, the Costa report stresses.
These measures should above all change the situation for accidents involving tourist coaches, by reducing the risk of passengers being ejected when coaches turn over onto their side, after skidding (which is often the cause of accidents for this kind of vehicles). Also, the Koch report calls for side seats in vehicles of this category (M3) to be authorised as long as these seats are also equipped with double-anchorage seatbelts with automatic winding system and headrest. This will allow passenger safety to be ensured on board “conference buses, a typically European product in the tourist sector”, within which side seats and seats at the back of the vehicle form a sort of discussion area for ten people. “We have also managed to ensure that many jobs are safeguarded in companies that manufacture buses and carry out bus transport, and that particularly good quality services are maintained for passengers”, Rapporteur Koch states.
The directive adopted in first reading, which concerns frontal protection systems in motor vehicles (M1 and N1 categories whose weight does not exceed 3.5 tonnes), is part of the resolve expressed to improve the protection of pedestrians and other vulnerable road users in the event of collision with a vehicle equipped with such a system. Given the growing use of frontal protection grids and the number of people injured by this kind of vehicle, the Commission has put forward a proposal aimed at defining conditions to be respected concerning the frontal protection systems fitted as part of the original fittings, and also concerning the systems marketed as separate technical accessories. The Hedkvist Petersen report provides for the possibility to extend the use of more “flexible” frontal protection systems using “intelligent” materials (for example, alveolar plastic) that protect pedestrians in the event of collision. It also calls for vehicle testing to be relaxed, given technical progress and experience gained.