A4-0065/98

Resolution on the Commission's communication 'Promoting road safety in the EU - the programme for 1997-2001" (COM(97)0131 - C4-0180/97)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission's communication (COM(97)0131 - C4-0180/97),

- having regard to the Commission's report on 'CARE - progress with the project and its future prospects¨ (COM(97)0238),

- having regard to:

. its resolution of 15 June 1987 on 1986 - Road Safety Year: progress and prospects ((OJ C 190, 20.7.1987, p. 18.))

. its resolution of 12 October 1988 on the protection of pedestrians and the European Charter of Pedestrians' Rights ((OJ C 290, 14.11.1988, p. 51.))

. its opinion of 23 May 1989 on the proposal for a Directive relating to the maximum permitted blood alcohol concentration for vehicle drivers ((OJ C 158, 26.6.1989, p. 53.))

. its resolution of 12 March 1993 on a Community programme for action on road safety ((OJ C 115, 26.4.1993, p. 260.))

. its resolution of 11 March 1994 on an action programme on road safety ((OJ C 91, 28.3.1994, p. 304.)),

- having regard to the Council's conclusions of 17 and 18 June 1997 on road safety in the EU,

- having regard to the debate and conclusions of the Conference on 'Road safety in Europe - a shared responsibility¨ which took place on 14 October 1997 at the European Parliament in Brussels,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A4-0065/98),

A. whereas the implementation of the first Community action programme on road safety for the years 1993-1996 has contributed to the achievement of some progress, but the present situation with 45 000 deaths and 1.6 million reported injuries annually on the roads of the EU remains totally unacceptable in view of the intolerable pain, grief and suffering it causes to so many,

B. whereas the hard economic costs of road accidents are estimated to be at least ECU 100 billion annually and the total socio-economic costs exceed ECU 160 billion,

C. whereas road casualties are caused by failures in the traffic system as a whole (which includes road users' decisions and actions, infrastructures and vehicles) and can only be reduced effectively by adopting a systematic approach to this question; whereas road safety is a complex and interdisciplinary subject in which the various factors play an important role and interact to a significant degree,

D. whereas road users have a special responsibility for road safety, but whereas this is also a shared responsibility between the EU, national, regional and local authorities and between governmental and non-governmental bodies,

E. whereas strategic planning for road safety with numerical targets is essential to increase the political priority given to the implementation of effective casualty reduction measures and also to direct the resources appropriately,

F. whereas several countries such as the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands and Sweden have successfully used numerical targets for their road safety action plans for several years,

G. whereas low-cost road engineering measures, such as small changes in junction operation, road lay-out, lighting, signs and markings can be implemented quickly and make significant contributions to road safety; whereas traffic engineering as well as urban safety management can also improve road safety,

H. whereas the production and promotion of EU technical guidelines based on best practices is an important means to promoting road safety,

I. whereas the most vulnerable groups of road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, as well as the young and the elderly, run the greatest risks and should therefore deserve particular attention,

J. whereas it is necessary not only to draw up new regulations, but also to ensure compliance with existing legislation, such as that relating to speed limits, seat belts, maximum permitted blood alcohol limits, roadworthiness tests for vehicles (especially for vehicles over seven years old which are often involved in accidents because of technical deficiencies) and enforcing rest and driving hours for professional drivers,

K. whereas effective action on vehicle safety standards is of the utmost importance since this is an area of exclusive EU competence and can yield substantial benefits in term of casualty reduction,

L. whereas the influence of alcohol, drugs and medication on driving is one of the most serious traffic safety problems and must be considered a priority action to be addressed by a package of countermeasures including EU legislation, publicity and education campaigns, enforcement procedures, engineering and the establishment of alternative transport modes,

M. having regard to the universally acknowledged detrimental effects of excessive and inappropriate speed on road safety,

N. whereas road safety education and public awareness and information campaigns are an effective method of increasing public concern on road safety, and when used to support enforcement activity can improve observance of good driving practices and safety legislation,

O. whereas judicial cooperation between the Member States must be reinforced in order to ensure the mutual recognition of the withdrawal of driving licences at EU level, facilitate effective cross-border enforcement of penalties and trace and prosecute those who have committed traffic offences or caused accidents in other Member States; to this end, a Convention on the mutual recognition of driving bans should be introduced,

P. whereas, not least because of the development of the internal market and growing intra-Community traffic, road safety must be incorporated as a fully-fledged element of transport policy in the overall policy on sustainable mobility,

1. Affirms as a major political goal its wish to give priority to measures to improve safety for all modes of transport as well as to providing the necessary financial resources for this purpose;

2. Notes with appreciation the programme of action on road safety for the years 1997-2001; nevertheless draws attention to a number of shortcomings in the programme;

3. Stresses the importance of dialogue, exchange of information and close cooperation between all authorities, organizations and bodies involved in road safety at European, national and regional and local levels; asks all parties involved to assume their responsibilities in this field and believes that the European Union should promote, initiate and coordinate such actions and act as a transfer-point of the exchange of best practice between all parties;

4. Stresses that the Member States must take radical and urgent measures with the aim of drastically reducing the annual number of road casualties and that the EU should establish a numerical target to reduce the annual deaths from the current level of 45 000 to a maximum of 25 000 by the year 2010; considers that such a target would provide a stimulus to all parties involved in the promotion and improvement of road safety and would contribute to mobilizing their efforts further;

5. Stresses the importance of adequate funding for road safety initiatives and is concerned that the cut in 1998 of almost 50% in the transport safety budget line (B2-702) could mean that the new programme is slowed down before it even begins; believes that serious consideration should be given to the utilization of monies from B2-704 for transport safety work and to the submission of a supplementary budget;

6. Welcomes the wide range of measures proposed in the action programme presented; nevertheless considers that a ranking of such measures according to their casualty reduction value is missing and believes that a clear list of priorities should be established to strengthen the operational character of the action programme;

7. In this respect, considers the following initiatives as priorities for the EU in order to achieve the aim of halving fatalities in 15 years:

a) legislation to ensure the production of safer cars, lorries, coaches, minibuses, motorcycles and pedal cycles, including the improvement of car fronts and the banning of bull bars for the protection of pedestrians and cyclists, introduction or improvement of standards for safety equipment and devices (such as seat belts, child restraint systems, airbags and helmets), as well as measures to ensure their use, and the mandatory fitment of front, rear and side underrun guards and spray-suppression systems for lorries; in addition, financial support should be given to the European New Car Assessment Programme - Euro NCAP - to allow the establishment of a rating system for the safety of cars; furthermore it should be compulsory to provide objective and verifiable information on various aspects of safety when selling vehicles;

b) improvement in the safety of road infrastructure including, in particular, the establishment of EU guidelines on road safety impact assessment, a mandatory safety impact assessment of all new transport infrastructure projects financed or co-financed by the EU and technical guidelines on speed reduction, low-cost measures and safety audit;

c) legislation to limit the maximum amount of driver's blood alcohol concentration to 0.5 mg/ml in accordance with the proposal before the Council since 1989 and to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages in service stations on motorways, as well as provisions to ensure compliance with such legislation and the standardization of apparatus for testing breath alcohol levels;

d) legislation to reduce excessive speed and to harmonize speed limits for the various categories of motor vehicles and roads (including urban residential areas) and the dissemination of best practice to enforce these speed limits;

e) legislation and other measures to improve drivers' training and to introduce an EU penalty points system for driving licences; legislation should also be enacted to outlaw the use of mobile phones whilst driving except where such phones are in a fixed position and can be used hands free;

f) adoption of measures to step up checks on and enforce rest periods and driving hours for professional drivers; the exclusion of transport workers from the working time directive should be ended;

g) apart from these activities measures and guidelines are also needed to improve emergency medical assistance to victims of road accidents and to provide better assistance in legal and social issues to road victims and their families;

h) reduction of road traffic by switching increasingly to safer modes of transport such as public transport;

8. Given that the advisability of compulsory use of daytime running lights is disputed by various organizations, considers that the Commission should, before making legislative proposals, call together the relevant interested parties and seek to achieve consensus, including - if necessary - carrying out further research to enable a decision to be reached on the issue;

9. In order that the above initiatives can be monitored properly, asks the Commission to establish and manage an integrated EU road safety information system for the collection, comparison, interpretation and dissemination of statistics on all aspects of road safety; such a system should include road safety performance indicators, information on existing road safety measures and legislation, as well as their application, research studies, communication strategies applied in this field and best practices;

10. Considers that the individual Member States should draw up road safety programmes based on comparable criteria and principles but tailored to their individual needs and that the efficiency and effectiveness of these programmes should be examined by the Commission and Council each year, with the findings providing the basis for future road safety programmes; believes that in the longer term there should be an authoritative annual report setting out the figures for deaths and injuries across transport modes and across Member States which would be used to pinpoint areas of concern where work is needed to improve safety and also to encourage Member States to focus on best practice where countries are working successfully to bring down the number of unnecessary deaths;

11. Considers that it is necessary to ensure that drivers are given precise information concerning the risks of taking certain medicines or drugs, the danger of which has become sufficiently clear (e.g. warning labels on medicines based upon an EU categorization of medicinal drugs according to their effects upon driving performance) and to adopt as quickly as possible legislation and other measures against the use of drugs and certain medicines in traffic and also carry out research into the use of roadside drug tests;

12. Stresses that road safety would be greatly improved by bringing rest periods for drivers of heavy goods vehicles into line with social and safety requirements and proper compliance with freight weight limits and speed limits;

13. Considers that priority should be given to research into the introduction of 30kph zones in residential areas and around schools, and giving pedestrians and cyclists more priority on the roads;

14. Stresses the importance of road-user education for all age groups and urges that action be taken to improve road safety education in schools; stresses the role of educational and information campaigns to improve the compliance of road users with safe practices and to increase the public acceptability of police controls and believes that the EU should support such campaigns and ensure advertising that promotes road safety;

15. Considers that insurance companies should contribute to promoting safer driving by differentiating premiums for individual motor vehicle owners as much as possible according to the potential risk of the drivers and by rewarding safe driving;

16. Considers that priority and further resources should be given to road safety research in order to stimulate the early application of technological developments and telematics in cars and infrastructures when genuine safety benefits can be expected, such as seat-belt warning devices, 'smart restraints', speed-control devices and alcohol interlock systems; considers that more research should be carried out into driver behaviour and the cause and effect of road rage;

17. Asks the governments of the Member States to step up their cooperation in the area of road safety in a constructive manner while respecting the principle of subsidiarity, and urges Member States to consult on a regular basis with law-enforcement agencies;

18. Asks the governments of the Member States to investigate the feasibility of setting up national multimodal Transport Safety Boards to conduct independent inquiries into accidents and incidents on all modes of transport and make recommendations to prevent such accidents from recurring;

19. Asks the Commission to take action on this resolution by presenting the relevant proposals and an evaluation report every two years on the progress achieved on the question of road safety;

20. Calls on the Commission to submit proposals in good time before this action programme expires to make 'sustainable safety' an integral part of the policy of sustainable mobility;

21. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of the Member States.