Skip to main content

EU transport committee votes for cross-border enforcement of traffic offences

Motorists who speed, ignore red lights or drink and drive when in a European country other than their own will be brought to book more easily, thanks to closer cooperation between European police forces and EU-wide enforcement of traffic rules, under plans approved yesterday by the European Parliament's transport committee. However, the UK and Ireland decided not to opt in to the system, while Denmark is entitled to opt out because the Council changed the legal basis of the directive from "transport" to "po
May 18, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Motorists who speed, ignore red lights or drink and drive when in a European country other than their own will be brought to book more easily, thanks to closer cooperation between European police forces and EU-wide enforcement of traffic rules, under plans approved yesterday by the European Parliament's transport committee. However, the UK and Ireland decided not to opt in to the system, while Denmark is entitled to opt out because the Council changed the legal basis of the directive from "transport" to "police cooperation" at first reading.

Throughout the rest of the EC, traffic police authorities will be able to pursue offenders in their home country by using the Eurocaris data exchange system. Speeding, driving under the influence of drink or drugs, failure to wear seatbelts, illegal use of mobile phones, using bus lanes, not wearing helmets when riding a motorcycle and crossing red lights are among the offences covered by the legislation.

Harmonising basic traffic rules and setting common standards for sanctions and enforcement procedures in future would help further reduce the death toll on Europe's roads, MEPs stressed during the debate ahead of the vote which was adopted yesterday by a large majority. The directive will enter into force at the latest two years after adoption and will be subject to close monitoring and assessment by the 1690 European Commission.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • I-80 Smart Corridor sets the ITS standard for California's Bay Area
    March 23, 2015
    Colin Sowman looks at California’s ‘smartest’ road which will open this spring to counter congestion and accidents on one of the Bay Area’s busiest interstates. Interstate 80 (I-80) is one of the busiest roads in the San Francisco Bay area with up to 270,000 vehicles using the corridor every day. The section between the Carquinez Bridge in Crockett and the Bay Bridge not only suffers congestion during the working week but also at weekends. Traditional remedies such as building additional lanes (there are al
  • Growth of ANPR applications for enforcement, tolling and more
    February 1, 2012
    Automatic number plate recognition continues to find new applications beyond the traditional. In coming years, we can expect the application set to grow significantly Moore's Law has seen to it that computer processing power has improved out of all comparison in the 30-plus years since the first working Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system was created by the UK's Police Scientific Development Branch. The attendant increases in systems' capabilities have resulted in ANPR being deployed globally
  • Alliance stages North American back office interoperability trial
    December 4, 2013
    JJ Eden, President and CEO of the Alliance for Toll Interoperability, talks to Jason Barnes about the new inter-agency hub, which will facilitate national transactions When it comes to achieving interoperability, the sheer diversity of technologies in operation in the US is perhaps the tolling industry’s greatest defining characteristic and its biggest challenge. The situation is in stark contrast with some other regions of the world, such as Europe where the use of common front-end Dedicated Short-Range
  • Uber takes on European critics
    July 13, 2015
    Uber's director of public policy for Europe, Simon Hampton, has suggested that he sees a chance at winning over governments pursuing legal action against the company. “If you're in a city Uber hasn't come to yet, then creating a group of people to say they want Uber and to put pressure on local politicians - that's hard," Hampton said at a panel discussion in the European Parliament, reports euractiv.com. Uber has faced legal inquiries in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Italy and Portugal ov