By Martin Banks - 7th July 2011
We applaud the inclusion of the offence of texting
Safe Europe
EU moves to track down motorists who commit serious traffic offences outside their home countries has been welcomed by safety groups.
It comes after parliament in Strasbourg approved a new directive which will enable EU countries to swap car registration details to track down offenders.
It is hoped the new measures will come into effect in 2013.
While foreign drivers account for only five per cent of traffic on Europe's roads, they represent 15 per cent of speeding offences.
Announcing the plans, EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas said, "We know that a foreign driver is three times more likely to commit an offence. These new rules should have a powerful deterrent."
Further comment came from ECR deputy Roberts Zile, who said, "There have been a number of problems with these proposals but finally we have reached a proposal that we can accept.
"In particular, we are able to secure a system that will enable cross-border action against drivers who cause life-threatening offences without interfering in the provisions of national law."
Peter Van Dalen, a deputy chair of parliament's transport committee and shadow rapporteur on the proposals, said, "Many times when driving in our own countries we see foreign drivers commit offences which frustrate us because we know they will get away with them. Now they will have to think twice about careless and illegal driving which has been responsible for too many deaths and ruined families.
"This is a good example of Eurorealist cooperation without the need to interfere in each other's legal systems."
The group Safe Europe (DSE) welcomed the vote, saying it was "another important step in the fight against texting while driving".
A driver who is texting is 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident.
Ten member states have bans against texting and it said the directive "strengthens the enforcement for drivers crossing borders".
The group's managing director Ciaran Hynes said, "In particular we applaud the inclusion of the offence of texting while driving in order to reduce the estimated €26bn spent annually in Europe on distracted driving related motor vehicle accidents.
"This is a good step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to prevent texting while driving occurring in the first place. DSE believes that technology solutions offer the best opportunity and we look forward to continued support in using technology to prevent this rising problem on our roads."
The draft EU law tackles the main causes of death and serious injury on EU roads: mobile phone use, speeding, drink-driving and non use of seat belts.
DSE said it will allow for the "effective enforcement of road traffic rules across borders through information exchange which will aid police and enforcement authorities in their efforts to achieve compliance with road traffic rules".
