Commission calls for better enforcement of road safety rules

Publication date: 22 October 2003

The European Commission proposed today a package of measures aiming at improving road safety through a better enforcement of road safety rules. The package includes a new Directive and a Recommendation (both texts are not yet available). The new Directive will update and enhance existing common rules for standard checking procedures in the professional road transport sector. The recommendation to Member States on enforcement of road safety measures will aim at private drivers and concentrates on three main areas: speeding, drink driving, and seat belt wearing.

ip_03_1436_enforcement.pdf (72 KB)

Background:
In September 2001, the Commission presented its White Paper "European Transport Policy for 2010: time to decide", setting the objective of halving the number of road deaths by 2010. In order to contribute to achieving this target, the Commission published a European Road Safety Action Programme (COM (2003) 311 final) in June 2003. This Programme contained a number of measures aiming to reduce road fatalities and concentrates on three areas: the car, the driver and the road infrastructure. The package of measures announced today are aiming at the driver´s part of this safety equation.

transport_white_paper_2001.pdf (1098 KB)

com2003_311_road_safety_action_programme.pdf (450 KB)

In a statement to EUpolitix, Adam McCarthy, Research Officer of the AIT-FIA European Bureau, said: "We welcome any steps to encourage better driver behaviour, which is why the Commission´s proposals are to be broadly welcomed. However, we feel that a number of points should be made clear. The proposals should be used by the member states to improve road safety, at no point should they be used as a general revenue raising scheme."