Is a standard Highway Code for all EU member states a possibility?
A report adopted by parliament's transport and tourism committee recently calls for a ban on texting while driving, standardised road signs and a standard Highway Code for all members.
Committee members said that while national rules exist the commission "has a role" to play in ensuring member states are encouraged to introduce an EU-wide ban on texting while driving. Ciarán Hynes, managing director of the Drive Safe Europe organisation, said that an EU-wide ban was "entirely achievable". He said: "In an environment where an estimated €26b is spent in Europe on car accidents caused by the result of distraction driving we support the committee's call for an EU-wide ban."
The committee also called for wider use of 30 km/h speed limits in urban areas. A report by German EPP member Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, approved by the committee, sets out specific measures to cut the number of road accident victims by half by 2020. This includes a call for a 30km/h speed limit in all residential areas and on single-lane roads without cycle tracks. This is designed to help cut the number of children under 14 years' old killed on roads by 60 per cent and those seriously injured by 40 per cent.
Tory MEP Jacqueline Foster attacked the proposals as 'plain silly'. Dieter-Lebrecht Koch believes that his recommendations will halve road deaths by 2020. Jacqueline Foster said: “Of course speed limits as low as 20mph or so can be right in some very specific areas, especially near schools or nurseries, but every location is different and these decisions need to be made case by case, not by a Europe-wide edict.” A British road sign declaring 'Speed limit - 18.64mph' would be “plain silly” she said.
Other ideas among more than 100 from Mr Koch include standardised road signs across the EU, harmonised road worthiness standards for cars, a common drink-driving limit and a standard 'highway code' for all member states. “The choice of measures and their assessment should be a scientific process, based on comparable, high-quality data, definitions and statistics,” said Mr Koch during the debate on his report.
The report also suggested that drivers should be offered eyesight tests every 10 years, and every five years after the age of 65. Substances or medicines that affect the ability to drive should be systematically identified, and driving whilst taking them should eventually be prohibited. Professional drivers and beginners should also refrain from drinking any alcohol before driving. There should be a European-wide day of remembrance for all those killed in road traffic accidents.