General News: Cross border enforcement of traffic laws gets a push

Date: 19 March 2008

New EU proposal on police traffic law enforcement is adopted.

The European Commission has adopted a new proposal for a Directive on the cross border enforcement of traffic laws. The Directive will pave the way for an effective working of the Framework Decision on the Mutual Recognition of Financial Penalties from 2005.

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) welcomed this new proposal which will certainly contribute to reducing road deaths on Europe’s roads. According to the ETSC, European legislative action is sorely needed especially given the worrying performance during 2007 when for the first time in a number of years there has been no reduction in the number of road deaths in the EU. The main objective of the new legislation is to set up a system for exchanging information (e.g. owner data) and procedures for the proper notification of offenders, so that road safety enforcement measures can be applied to non-resident traffic offenders. At present effective and efficient follow up of cross-border offences hardly exist. A further complication is the trend where an increasing number of countries employ automatic enforcement systems (e.g. Austria, France and the Netherlands). Although a number of bi-lateral agreements exist, there has been no common EU approach so far to tackle non-resident drivers who believe they are above the law.

The proposed Directive is an important step to tackle non-resident drivers who in many countries pose a particular risk to road users. At present they are more likely to take risks and break the law due to their feeling of impunity. According to available data, non-residents represent around 5% of road traffic in the EU, whereas the share of non-resident drivers in speeding offences is around 15% on average. The proposal will hopefully bring an end to this flagrant disregard for traffic rules and make them equally enforceable throughout the EU. Research shows that it is sustained and intensive enforcement that has a long-lasting effect on driver behaviour.

For further information, please contact Evgueni Pogorelov, European Transport Safety Council Communications Officer at evgueni.pogorelov@etsc.be or visit www.etsc.be