UK
Majority support lower BAC limits in England and Wales, 50 years after first UK blood alcohol limits
50 years after the UK first introduced breath testing and blood alcohol limits, a motorists’ organisation has backed calls to reduce the legal blood-alcohol limit for drivers in England and Wales for the first time. While the 0.8g/l limit has been in place since a legal maximum was introduced in 1967, Scotland took the decision to cut to 0.5 in December 2014 and Northern Ireland is in the process of doing the same. The limit in almost all other European countries is 0.5 or […]
A number of national surveys across Europe have revealed worrying attitudes to the use of mobile devices while driving. Campaigners are calling for better enforcement, higher penalties, technological solutions and education to raise awareness of the risks. A survey carried out by Ipsos in the Czech Republic last Summer found that 36% of drivers admitted using their phone almost every time they get behind the wheel. In Spain, 25% of drivers have admitted to using their phone behind the wheel, similar to the figure […]
Policymakers in Germany, Ireland and Scotland are being asked to support the wider roll out of 30km/h speed limits, especially in urban areas where cars interact with pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users. At a high-level event organised by ETSC’s Irish member the Road Safety Authority (RSA) earlier this month, the organisations’s chief executive Moyagh Murdock said despite Dublin’s pioneering rollout of 30km/h limits, the rest of the country was ‘falling behind’ and called for more local authorities to follow the capital’s lead. ETSC’s German member DVR is also backing […]
Transport for London will require Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) to be fitted on public buses in the city from later this year following a successful trial. TfL tested an after-market mandatory ISA system on a small number of buses. The system proved to be effective, and was found to be particularly useful at preventing speeding in 20mph zones. The trial found that despite the system used being mandatory, i.e not overridable by the driver – there were a few occasions when buses exceeded the speed limit on […]
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has announced the 2017 winners of the PRAISE awards, in recognition of outstanding efforts taken by companies to improve road safety at work. The large company award goes to National Vehicle Distribution (NVD), a family-owned vehicle transportation and storage company in Ireland. The small and medium-sized enterprise award goes to ATF, a Belgian road construction company. Jacobs, one of the world’s largest construction services firms, has been highly commended by the award judges. The winners will be honoured […]
Drug-driving limits and roadside testing will be introduced in Scotland, the Scottish Government has announced. It is illegal to drive in Scotland while impaired by drugs and this offence will continue to operate, but the Scottish Government plans to introduce new drug-driving limits that will allow prosecutions where different drug types above specified levels are detected. This should mean it is easier to hold drug-drivers to account as there will be no requirement to prove that someone was driving in an impaired manner. England […]
Traffic Control Centre, 21 Ferrymuir Gait South Queensferry, Edinburgh 4th of July 2017, 9:00 – 13:00 The European Transport Safety Council, together with the Road Safety Scotland and the UK Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) have the pleasure of inviting you to a round-table event to raise awareness amongst policy makers, the private sector and key opinion leaders on how to develop a systematic approach to reduce alcohol misuse in road transport. Measures to tackle drink driving such as the use of […]
The next version of the standard software included on Apple’s iPhones will include a feature that detects driving and then blocks distracting notifications including calls and messages. The overridable feature, known as ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’, will operate automatically once the phone’s owner has opted-in to the feature the first time the phone detects driving. Passengers, and indeed drivers who click the passenger button, will be able to override the mode at all times. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requested […]
The legal drink drive limit should be lowered in England and Wales to help cut alcohol-related collisions according to an association of English local councils and fire and rescue authorities. The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 370 councils and all fire and rescue authorities in England and Wales, is calling on the Government to drop the current Blood Alcohol Limit (BAC) from 0.8 to 0.5g/l. England and Wales have one of the highest drink drive limits in the world and the […]
A survey commissioned by road safety charity Brake has found that more than half (52%) of UK drivers admit to speeding in 20 mph zones. The survey of 2,000 drivers also showed that 8 in 10 (78%) think traffic is too fast in their neighbourhood for the safety of children on foot or bike. According to Brake, research has found that children cannot judge the speed of approaching vehicles travelling faster than 20mph, so may believe it is safe to cross when it is […]
Ireland’s Road Safety Authority (RSA), an ETSC member, says it is seriously considering making proposals to link speeding fines to income. The announcement follows changes to the structure of speeding fines in the UK that came into force last month. The UK has had income-linked speeding fines for some time, but the levels were increased last month for the most serious offences. Drivers can now be fined up to 175% of their weekly income, for example for driving at 101 mph on the motorway […]
A new report published by the UK’s upper house of parliament has warned that the safety and economic benefits of automated vehicles are unproven and urges the government to “not lose sight” of other possibilities to reduce road casualties. The sixty page report for the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee says the government needs to implement a ‘joined-up’, wider transport strategy that puts the development of autonomous vehicles within the context of broader goals. The current approach, focussing on autonomous passenger […]
Drivers in England, Scotland and Wales caught using their phones at the wheel within two years of passing their test will have their driving license taken away under a new law that came into force on 1 March. Penalties for other drivers have also been doubled to GBP 200 and six penalty points. Responding to the new British law, the Irish transport minister Shane Ross said he is open to imposing similar measures in Ireland. ETSC’s German member DVR called in January for fines […]
A ban on mobile phone use while driving, tougher enforcement and a driving mode for devices are some of the options being explored by governments around Europe as data show distracted driving’s deadly impact continues unabated. The Dutch Transport Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen told the AD newspaper last November that the government was considering several options to reduce the risk of distracted driving, including a full ban or requiring that certain features, such as Pokémon Go, be switched off automatically above a certain […]
The European Commission’s latest road safety scorecard reveals, for the first time, estimated figures for rates of serious injury per million inhabitants broken down by country for 16 EU member states. The data act as a further reminder of the scale of the problem, with rates of serious injury dwarfing the numbers killed. The data is based on MAIS3+, a common definition of a serious injury now being used for comparison across the EU. EU transport commissioner Violeta Bulc told the European Parliament in […]
France and Ireland are increasing their use of road-side saliva testing technology in a bid to boost enforcement of drug driving. France previously required police to accompany drivers to a clinical blood test if they were suspected of drug driving based on a saliva test. Following a trial to determine the accuracy of roadside testing equipment the blood test will now be replaced by a second saliva test. Both of the samples taken will still need to be verified at a laboratory, but the […]
More than 9,000 people responded to a recent UK Ministry of Justice consultation on proposals to increase prison sentences for people that cause death by dangerous driving or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The government said the response was one of the largest of any recent consultation and included responses from victims’ groups, bereaved families, road safety organisations and charities. The proposals include an increase in the maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving or driving under the influence of […]
There have been renewed calls for a lower drink drive limit in England after a survey found that more than three quarters of people would support such a move. Drink driving deaths in Great Britain have remained static since 2010 at 240 deaths a year, despite an overall reduction in fatalities. Scotland reduced its drink driving limit from 0.8 g/l to 0.5g/l two years ago. Northern Ireland is set to follow soon. David Davies, Executive Director of PACTS said: “The number of deaths involving […]
Official drink driving campaigns are increasingly using social media to reach target groups. The UK government’s Think! campaign is using events such as major football games and video game launches to point out to young males what they could miss out on if they have one extra pint. The social media images use messages written on the side of beer glasses to get the message across. The campaign specifically targets young males, as figures show they account for almost two thirds of drink drivers […]
The United States, China, Germany, Australia and the UK are among the countries to have made major announcements on rules governing self-driving cars in recent months, while the EU’s transport commissioner has promised a ‘master plan’ by the end of the year. ETSC says many safety questions remain unanswered. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a set of guidelines in September that called for voluntary reporting from carmakers on how their systems were tested, how they work and what happens if […]