Skip to main content

Go ahead for European cross-border enforcement

Plans to introduce the Cross-Border Enforcement Directive in Europe now look set to move ahead, despite news of the UK decision to delay its opting into the scheme.
February 21, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Plans to introduce the Cross-Border Enforcement Directive in Europe now look set to move ahead, despite news of the UK decision to delay its opting into the scheme.

The 1197 European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) is urging EU Transport ministers and MEPs to adopt the Directive.

Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the ETSC said: “The situation is less than ideal, but the Council and European Parliament must carefully weigh up the EU-wide road safety benefits of the Directive and adopt this legislation, thus addressing a long-standing problem of enforcing traffic laws on non-residents.”

ETSC strongly believes the time to act is now: across the EU foreign drivers make up only 5% of traffic but 15% of speeding offences.

The decision of the UK to delay its opt-in implies that UK citizens will be exempt from this important new road safety law. Fellow Europeans may also be affected by the failure of the UK citizens to comply with traffic regulations when travelling abroad. Ireland also has to formally opt-in to be covered by the new Directive and ETSC is looking forward to a positive decision coming from the new government in Dublin.

The main objective of the new Directive is to introduce a system of exchanging information to enable the follow up of road safety related traffic offences committed by non-resident drivers. The swift adoption of the Directive would introduce equal treatment of foreign and resident drivers and most importantly, save lives on Europe’s roads.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Europe’s drive for safer roads sets new targets
    January 9, 2019
    Europe’s drive for improved road safety will see new targets being set. Previous ambitious plans to reduce road casualty rates have not been achieved, so new strategies are being devised. The European Transport Safety Commission (ETSC) is setting out its latest plans. In 2010, the European Union renewed its commitment to improve road safety by setting a target of reducing road deaths by 50% by 2020, compared to 2010 levels. This target followed an earlier target set in 2001 to halve road deaths by 2010. A n
  • Improving road safety in Europe?
    July 24, 2012
    New plans by the European Commission are being proposed in a bid to reduce accident levels on the road. The changes are being made in a bid to reduce accident levels caused by defective vehicles. Under the new rules, all motorcycles and scooters would require technical inspections at regular intervals.
  • European politicians call for new safety drive
    May 13, 2016
    Five of Europe’s transport ministers are calling for Europe to reduce the rate of serious road injuries. The transport ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia have joined earlier calls for the European Union to come forward with a target to reduce the numbers of people seriously injured in road collisions. In a declaration signed in Prague today at a meeting of the Visegrad group of countries, the ministers wrote, “…that traffic crashes cause an unacceptable human, social
  • Tackling Indian road safety
    December 5, 2012
    India’s road safety record is the world’s worst but there are plans to tackle the problems. Patrick Smith reports from New Delhi. A speeded up video of a short section of road in the Indian capital Delhi was followed by a question. “How many infringements did you count in that 25-second clip on a typical day in Delhi,” asked Dr Rohit Baluja, a question that brought understandable silence. It equated to hundreds of millions of infringements each year, said Dr Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Educ