Enforcement
The French interior ministry is apparently considering relaxing speed sanctions to only apply the penalty point system for speeding in excess of 5 km/h over the posted speed limit, according to an unnamed source quoted by the AFP news agency. Today, anyone going above the speed limit can be fined and have points removed from their license. The fines and amount of penalty points is linked to the level of […]
On 16 March 2022, ETSC teamed up with ROADPOL, the European roads policing network to organise two complementary online events on the topic of enforcement. ETSC Online Event – How traffic law enforcement can contribute to safer roads, 10.00-12.30 CET. This online event focused on speed enforcement and cross-border enforcement. 00:00 – Welcome and introductions Tjark Kreuzinger, Toyota Motor Europe Jacqueline Lacroix, DVR 21:10 – How traffic law enforcement can […]
Exceeding speed limits, drink- or distracted- driving, and failure to wear a seatbelt are among the important factors leading to death and serious injury on European roads. Road safety laws have been adopted to guide drivers in their behaviour. Many comply with them willingly. Others, however, would be less likely to comply if it were not for fear of being detected and sanctioned. This is where traffic law enforcement comes […]
Significant weaknesses in the enforcement of road safety rules are holding back progress on reducing road deaths in Europe, according to a new report from the European Transport Safety Council. The report examines the state of enforcement of speed limits and seatbelt wearing as well as rules on drink-driving and use of mobile devices at the wheel between 2010 and 2019 across Europe. Ellen Townsend, ETSC’s policy director, commented: “Thousands […]
Speeding fines will be doubled in Croatia and changes to road rules will be made to set rules for users of micromobility vehicles such as e-scooters, according to an announcement by the Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia earlier this month. Speeding fines will increase from around €65 today to €130. The minister said that 38% of road deaths this year were a result of inappropriate speed. The highway code changes […]
Enforcement fines for speeding and other traffic offences are to be substantially increased in Germany from next month, following legal changes agreed in early October. Anyone caught driving 16 to 20 kilometers per hour (km / h) too fast in an urban area will see the fine doubled from 35 to 70 euros. For those that are caught at 91 km / h instead of the permitted 50 km / h, the […]
The European Court of Justice has said the way Latvia processes data on driver penalty points is not compatible with EU data privacy laws. Latvia maintains a list of drivers and their penalty points in a database and permits access to data on individual drivers without requiring justification. That goes against the provisions of the 2018 EU General Data Protection Regulation, according to a judgement by the European Court of […]
Across Europe, about 50 people each year per million population are killed in road traffic and about five times as many are seriously injured, consumption of alcohol is high by global standards, and a widely quoted estimate is that about a quarter of the road deaths are related to drink driving. The more than half a century since evidence from the USA made it irrefutable that drink driving increases the […]
Safe and Sober Webinar An overview of current and forthcoming alcohol interlock programmes in Europe Online event : Monday 7 December 2020, 15:30 – 16:45 CET The European Transport Safety Council hold a Safe and Sober webinar on 7 December. This online event featured the launch of our new report on alcohol interlock programmes in Europe and national experts from Belgium, Finland, France and Sweden shared their experiences. Driving under […]
The Netherlands has begun issuing fines following detection of mobile phone use by a new generation of cameras, the first EU Member State to do so. Since last month drivers holding a phone behind the wheel can be photographed by smart cameras. If the system determines that the driver is holding a phone, the photo is automatically forwarded to the relevant agency where an investigating officer will determine whether there […]
The EU roadworthiness package was last revised in 2014 and consists of Directive 2014/45/EC on Periodic Roadworthiness tests, Directive 2014/47/EC on technical roadside inspections of commercial vehicles and Directive 2014/46/EC on the requirements for issuing registration certificates with implementation in May 2018. The EC is in the phase of preparing its implementation report, expected to be published in the autumn, and the EP will prepare its own implementation report following […]
Changes to road safety laws in Italy could lead to the introduction of alcohol interlock programmes for drink driving offenders, as well as updates to numerous road safety rules. The new legal proposal to introduce alcohol interlocks came from the CNEL, a state body with the power to propose new legislation, and has been presented to the two houses of the Italian parliament, marking the first step on the road […]
The aim of ROADPOL Safety Days is to reduce the number of traffic fatalities to zero, at least on one day. Traffic police forces from ROADPOL member countries participate in the campaign every year. Activities vary across countries but are centred on enforcement and direct engagement with road users. Organisations in all countries are invited to participate in the ROAPDOL Safety Days campaign, organising national events and activities and sharing […]
A new speed enforcement sign in Poland warns drivers of their current speed as well as the fine and penalty points they could expect to receive if they get caught. The sign has been installed with support from the local police and local authority near a primary school in the district of Lipsko in the province of Mazovia. Od kilku dni nad bezpieczeństwem uczniów PSP w Chotczy Józefów czuwa radarowy […]
The Spanish directorate-general for traffic (DGT) is testing a new mobile speed camera that can detect speeding from up to 1km away, and can also detect mobile phone use and seatbelt wearing. The new mobile enforcement device, which could be approved and in use by the end of the year, would still only be able to apply a speeding penalty from 80-100m away under current rules.
Emmanuel Barbe, the outgoing French road safety chief, says 336 deaths were prevented over the 18-month period since the introduction of a lower 80 km/h on single-carriageway rural roads in France. Mr Barbe also criticised the “shameful” vandalism that led to large numbers of speed cameras being put out of action by the yellow vest movement. Without that damage, the figures for deaths prevented would have been higher, he said. […]
The Dutch alcohol interlock programme was twice as effective as other sanctions at reducing recidivism, and the effects continued after participation in the scheme, according to new research by the Dutch Ministry of Justice research centre (WODC). According to the researchers, 4% of those who followed the programme were re-convicted of a drink-driving offence within two years, compared to 8% for a control group who faced other sanctions. An education […]
The Italian government has announced an agreement between the Ministry of Interior and the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI) to increase road traffic enforcement by engaging city police in tasks previously assigned to traffic police and national police. The agreement, announced earlier this month, followed the deaths of seven German tourists, killed by a single drink-driver in the ski resort of Lutago outside a night club. 11 others were […]
The Irish Road Safety Authority (RSA) says new figures show that drug driving is a major problem on Ireland’s roads. Cannabis is now not far behind alcohol in blood and urine samples examined by the Irish Medical Bureau of Road Safety (MBRS), according to the RSA. According to the new data, 68% of drivers with a positive roadside drug test, between April 2017 and July 2019, had a positive test […]
The Polish Prime Minister has promised to make road safety a priority. In a Facebook post on 29 October Mateusz Morawiecki said “A comprehensive plan for the radical improvement of road safety will be one of the government’s priorities in the new term.” Road safety protests were sparked in Warsaw last month after a fatal collision between a BMW car – reportedly being driven at 130 km/h on a road […]