This Commission presented its staff working document concerning the impact assessment on the Commission legislative proposal for a revision of Directive 2000/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to cableway installations designed to carry persons (the Cableways Directive).

To recall, the purpose of the Cableways Directive is to establish the free movement in the internal market of safety components and subsystems of cableway installations while maintaining a uniform and high level of safety. The installations covered by the Cableways Directive are funicular railways, cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and drag lifts.

In line with the political commitment of the EU legislator, the Cableways Directive will be aligned to the New Legislative Framework ( Decision No 768/2008/EC ). This exercise provides the opportunity to address some difficulties experienced with the implementation of the directive :

difficulty to clearly identify certain installations as cableways : authorities, notified bodies and manufacturers have had different views whether certain types of installations, namely inclined lifts, small funiculars and equipment designed for leisure and transport purposes comes under the scope of the Cableways Directive and hence have to be manufactured and certified in line with the directive’s requirements and procedures.; difficulty to distinguish between subsystems, infrastructures and safety components and to determine the right conformity assessment procedure: stakeholders have had different views on whether certain equipment should be considered as subsystem, infrastructure or safety component. Furthermore the Directive does not say clearly which type of conformity assessment procedure has to be applied to subsystems.

While the problems are not endangering the general objectives of the Directive, addressing them at EU level will avoid diverging approaches taken by the authorities or notified bodies which lead to unequal treatment of economic operators.

The overall objectives of this initiative are to: (i) provide more legal certainty and facilitate the implementation of the cableways directive; (ii) favour a fair level playing field for cableways economic operators, and (iii) simplify the overall European regulatory environment in the field of cableways installations.

Policy options : policy options for the revision of the Cableways Directive 2009/9/EC have been considered for each of the identified issues:

scope of the Directive: there are some difficulties concerning the scope of the Directive, in particular with regard to new types of installations; distinction safety components, subsystems, infrastructures and installations; conformity assessment procedure for subsystems.

Three policy options have been considered, i.e.

(1) the “do nothing” as a baseline option;

(2) the “soft law” option as non-legislative alternative consisting of issuing commonly agreed interpretation on the application of the Cableways Directive; and

(3) the “legislative” option amending the legal text.

Preferred option : option 3 combined with option 2 turned out to be the preferred choice to appropriately respond to the “problems” identified. The current uncertainties concerning installations with a double purpose (transport and leisure) and the applicable conformity assessment procedures for subsystems will be clarified by changes in the legislation. The borderline to the Lifts Directive and the distinction between safety components and subsystems will be clarified through further guidance.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution in response to the Commission Communication entitled ‘Towards a European road safety area: policy orientations on road safety 2011-2020’.

Firstly, the resolution highlights that in 2009 more than 35 000 people were killed and more than 1 500 000 injured in road accidents in the European Union. The social cost of road accidents is estimated at EUR 130 billion per year. Parliament wholeheartedly endorses the objective of halving by 2020 the total number of road deaths in the EU by comparison with 2010, and calls for further clear and measurable targets to be set for the same period. In particular:

a 60 % reduction in the number of children under the age of 14 killed in road accidents; a 50 % reduction in the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed in road collisions; a 40 % reduction in the number of people suffering critical injuries, on the basis of a uniform EU definition to be developed quickly .

Fully fledged action programme : overall, Parliament welcomes the abovementioned Commission communication, but calls on the Commission, by the end of 2011 , to develop its proposals into a fully fledged action programme incorporating a detailed set of measures with clear timetables for their implementation and monitoring instruments.

Parliament also proposes, as a matter of priority, that an EU Road Safety Coordinator should be appointed, as part of the European Commission, by 2014 , who should, inter alia :

promote – as a recognised personality in the field of road transport safety – current, and initiate innovative new, road safety projects with his experience, expertise and skills; coordinate road safety measures within the Commission and between the Member States; facilitate at a high political level the preparation, implementation and enforcement of effective and coherent road safety policies in line with the EU objectives; oversee particular projects such as the harmonisation of indicators, data and, as far as possible, national road safety plans; promote the exchange of best practice and the implementation of road safety provisions in cooperation with all stakeholders, Member States and their regional and local authorities; liaise between the relevant political and academic levels in order to allow scope for a multidisciplinary approach.

A cooperation forum should be set up where prosecutors, law enforcement authorities, victims’ associations and road safety monitoring centres can exchange information on best practices and cooperate more closely on improving implementation of road safety legislation, at both national and transnational levels.

Parliament regrets that the EU budget for road safety measures has been cut significantly in recent years and calls on the Commission to reverse this trend.

The resolution considers that the public authorities and the EU have a moral and political obligation to adopt measures and actions to tackle this social problem. A complementary, long-term strategy is needed which goes beyond the period covered by the communication under consideration here and has the objective of preventing all road deaths (‘ Vision Zero ’). Being aware that this is not feasible without the extensive use of technology in road vehicles and the development of proper networks for ITS, Members call on the Commission to develop the central features of such a strategy and to present them within the next three years .

Catalogue of proposals : Members present a catalogue of 103 measures to improve road safety. Amongst these, one notes the following: (i) improving road users’ training and behaviour; (ii) harmonising and enforcing road traffic rules; (iii) making road transport infrastructure safer; (iv) putting safer vehicles on the road; (v) using modern technologies for vehicles, infrastructure and the emergency services; (vi) protecting vulnerable road users (motorcyclists, pedestrians, road maintenance workers, cyclists, children, elderly people and people with disabilities).

Parliament calls on the Member States to:

make compulsory fitting of alcolocks – with a small, scientifically-based range of tolerance for measurement – to all new types of commercial passenger and goods transport vehicles; introduce a European-wide ban on the manufacture, import and distribution of systems that warn drivers of traffic checks (e.g. radar warning and laser jamming devices, or navigation systems that automatically signal traffic checks); introduce speed limits of 30 km/h in residential areas and on all one-lane roads in urban areas which have no separate cycle lane, with a view to protecting vulnerable road users more effectively; introduce a EU-wide ban on the practice of texting, emailing or web browsing while driving a motorised vehicle, which should be enforced by Member States using the best available technology; establish an obligatory medical check for drivers at a certain age, to identify the physical, mental and psychological ability required to continue driving on the basis of their statistical accident data for the respective age group; take steps to ensure that the requirements imposed on commercial vehicles are stepped up in line with technical conditions, e.g. regarding tiredness- and distraction-warning devices; make the carrying of warning jackets for all vehicle occupants compulsory; encourage cyclists, especially at night outside built-up areas, to use crash helmets and wear warning jackets or comparable clothing as a means of improving their visibility; introduce monitoring equipment by means of which speeding offences by motorcyclists can be systematically detected and punished.

Members also call on the Commission, by the end of 2013, to apply as part of the SafetyNet project a set of additional, harmonised indicators on the basis of which monitoring can be improved and meaningful comparisons of the progress made by individual Member States drawn up. Parliament calls for an EU-wide harmonised blood alcohol limit; recommends a 0 ‰ , scientifically based range of tolerance for measurement for newly qualified drivers in the first 2 years and for professional drivers at all time.

The Commission is called upon to:

draw up by 2012 a proposal to improve the data available concerning the causes of accidents and injuries; prepare by 2013 a proposal for a Directive for the fitting of alcolocks, including the relevant specifications for its technical implementation; submit by 2013 a proposal designed to ensure that every new vehicle is fitted as standard equipment with an improved seat-belt reminder system for the front and rear seats which gives both auditory and visual warnings; submit a legislative proposal, including a timetable and a detailed approval procedure, by the end of 2012 providing for the phased introduction, initially in rented vehicles and subsequently also in commercial and private vehicles, of an integrated accident recorder system with a standardised readout which records relevant data before, during and after accidents (‘Event Data Recording’); draw up within two years definitions of the terms ‘critically injured’, ‘seriously injured’ and ‘slightly injured’ with a view to making comparisons of measures and their impact in the Member States possible.

Lastly, Parliament calls for the development of a genuine EU road safety monitoring centre whose task it would be to prepare a summary of existing initiatives on data collection, to make a proposal aimed at improving exchanges of data, as well as to collate data from existing databases and the knowledge gained through the implementation of EU projects.

The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted the own-initiative report drafted by Dieter-Lebrecht KOCH (EPP, ED) in response to the Commission Communication entitled ‘Towards a European road safety area: policy orientations on road safety 2011-2020’.

Firstly, the report highlights that in 2009 more than 35 000 people were killed and more than 1 500 000 injured in road accidents in the European Union. The social cost of road accidents is estimated at EUR 130 billion per year. The committee wholeheartedly endorses the objective of halving by 2020 the total number of road deaths in the EU by comparison with 2010, and calls for further clear and measurable targets to be set for the same period. In particular: (i) a 60 % reduction in the number of children under the age of 14 killed in road accidents; (ii) a 50 % reduction in the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed in road collisions; and (iii) a 40 % reduction in the number of people suffering critical injuries, on the basis of a uniform EU definition to be developed quickly .

Overall, the committee welcomes the abovementioned Commission communication, but calls on the Commission, by the end of 2011, to develop its proposals into a fully fledged action programme incorporating a detailed set of measures with clear timetables for their implementation, monitoring instruments, so that the effectiveness of the measures can be regularly checked, and provision for a mid-term review.

Members endorse the Commission’s view that if road safety is to be improved, a coherent, holistic and integrated approach is required. They call for road safety issues to be addressed in all relevant policy areas, such as education, health, environmental and social policy and police and judicial cooperation. In this respect, the Commission is called upon to improve the framework conditions for safer and more environmentally benign transport, such as walking, cycling, bus or rail, so as to encourage their use.

Members also propose, as a matter of priority, that an EU Road Safety Coordinator should be appointed, as part of the European Commission, by 2014, who should, inter alia :

promote road safety projects; coordinate road safety measures within the Commission and between the Member States; facilitate at a high political level the preparation, implementation and enforcement of effective and coherent road safety policies in line with the EU objectives.

A cooperation forum should be set up where prosecutors, law enforcement authorities, victims’ associations and road safety monitoring centres can exchange information on best practices and cooperate more closely on improving implementation of road safety legislation, at both national and transnational levels.

The committee regrets that the EU budget for road safety measures has been cut significantly in recent years and calls on the Commission to reverse this trend.

The report considers that the public authorities and the EU have a moral and political obligation to adopt measures and actions to tackle this social problem. A complementary, long-term strategy is needed which goes beyond the period covered by the communication under consideration here and has the objective of preventing all road deaths (‘ Vision Zero ’). Being aware that this is not feasible without the extensive use of technology in road vehicles and the development of proper networks for ITS, Members call on the Commission to develop the central features of such a strategy and to present them within the next three years. They call for the third Sunday in November to be recognised as the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

Improving indicators and data : the report regards high-quality, comparable data covering all road users including cyclists and pedestrians as a prerequisite for a successful road safety policy. The Commission is called upon to develop a genuine EU road safety monitoring centre whose task it would be to prepare a summary of existing initiatives on data collection, to make a proposal aimed at improving exchanges of data, as well as to collate data from existing databases and the knowledge gained through the implementation of EU projects such as SafetyNet, VERONICA or DaCoTa and to make it available to everyone in a readily comprehensible, annually updated form.

Areas for action:

Improving road users’ training and behaviour : Members emphasise that care, consideration for others and mutual respect and observance of rules, which is directly related to the need for systematic improvement in the quality of training by driving schools and the quality of the procedure for issuing driving licences, are fundamental to road safety. Greater importance should be attached to the concept of lifelong learning in the area of road transport. The committee therefore supports the activity of safe driving centres as an effective form of systemic training of drivers in all occupational and leisure time contexts. Traffic education and road user training programmes should already start from an early age in the family and at school and should include cycling, walking and using public transport.

Members call for measures to improve the training of new drivers, such as accompanied driving from the age of 17, or the introduction of a Graduated Driver Licensing system for driver training which involves practical instruction even after a driver has passed his or her test . Urgent attention should be paid to the main causes of road deaths and serious injuries, such as speeding, driving while drunk or under the influence of drugs or certain medications that affect driving ability, etc.

The report calls for an obligatory refresher courses on first aid every 10 years for all driving licence holders. It encourages the Member States to introduce special penalty points systems for the most dangerous offences, as the most efficient supplement to financial fines.

Members call for an eye test for all drivers in categories A and B every 10 years and for drivers older then 65 years every 5 years. An obligatory medical check for drivers at a certain age should be introduced.

Harmonising and enforcing road traffic rules : the report calls for determined efforts to harmonise road signs and road traffic rules by 2013. It regards the enforcement of existing rules as a central pillar of the EU’s road safety policy. Members call on the Commission to review legislation on driving and rest times in order to allow long-distance lorry drivers to spend their weekly rest periods at home, always providing that this can be achieved without compromising the European Union’s road safety objectives. They call on the Commission to support, as a first step, the development of techniques for apprehending drivers under the influence of drugs and certain medicines which influence their fitness to drive and to propose as a second step EU legislation to prohibit driving whilst under the influence of drugs or medicines, with effective enforcement.

They call for an EU-wide harmonised blood alcohol limit . They recommend a 0 ‰, scientifically based range of tolerance for measurement for newly qualified drivers in the first 2 years and for professional drivers at all time.

The report calls for a Europe-wide ban on the manufacture, import and distribution of systems that warn drivers of traffic checks (e.g. radar warning and laser jamming devices, or navigation systems that automatically signal traffic checks). In addition, it calls for the introduction of an EU-wide ban on the practice of texting, emailing or web browsing while driving a motorised vehicle.

The Commission should draw up, within two years, a legislative proposal for a harmonised approach on winter tyres for passenger cars, buses and lorries in EU regions, taking into account the weather conditions in each Member State.

Members look to the Commission, by 2015, to review the implementation of the third driving licence directive and bring it into line with changing circumstances, and calls, inter alia, for due account to be taken of the fact that the private use of M1 vehicles with a weight in excess of 3.5 tonnes – in particular mobile homes – is de facto no longer possible.

Making road transport infrastructure safer : Members wholeheartedly support the Commission’s proposal to make EU funding available as a matter of principle to infrastructure projects which comply with EU directives on road safety and tunnel safety, including the construction of lower-class roads. They call on the Member States to preserve and develop their road infrastructure through regular maintenance and innovative methods such as intelligent road markings that display safety distances and the direction of travel.

The report calls on the Commission and the Member States to pay greater attention to road design, to support the implementation of cost-effective measures already available and to encourage research that will enable policy-makers to understand better how road infrastructure should develop in order to improve road safety and to accommodate the specific needs of an ageing population and vulnerable road users.

Member States are called upon to draw up, and regularly update, a map of the most dangerous ‘black spots’ in their road networks, which should be made available to the public and be accessible via car navigation systems.

The report also calls for a ban on overtaking by lorries on dangerous sections of motorways.

Putting safer vehicles on the road : Members recommend that fitting of alcolocks – with a small, scientifically-based range of tolerance for measurement – to all new types of commercial passenger and goods transport vehicles be made compulsory. The Commission should, by 2013, prepare a proposal for a Directive for the fitting of alcolocks . Moreover, the report calls on the Commission to submit by 2013 a proposal designed to ensure that every new vehicle is fitted as standard equipment with an improved seat-belt reminder system for the front and rear seats which gives both auditory and visual warnings. The Commission is also called upon to draw up a proposal to fit vehicles with ‘intelligent speed assistance systems’ which incorporate a timetable, details of an approval procedure and a description of the requisite road infrastructure.

Protecting vulnerable road users : Members call for greater account to be taken of the protection of vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, pedestrians, road maintenance workers, cyclists, children, elderly people and people with disabilities as an integral aspect of road safety. The Commission, the Member States and local authorities are invited to promote ‘safe routes to school’ schemes in order to increase the safety of children. Cycling should be supported as mode of transport in its own right and an integral part of all transport systems. In this respect, a proposal should be submitted by the Commission laying down minimum requirements in respect of lights and reflective devices which must be met by bicycle manufacturers.

PURPOSE: to present a series of policy orientations on road safety 2011-2020.

BACKGROUND: in 2009, more than 35,000 people died on the roads of the European Union, i.e. the equivalent of a medium town, and no fewer than 1,500,000 persons were injured. The cost for society is huge, representing approximately EUR 130 billion in 2009.

In conjunction with the " Europe 2020 " strategy, the Commission considers that a coherent holistic and integrated approach is needed, taking into account synergies with other policy goals. Road safety policies at local, national, European or international level should integrate relevant objectives of other public policies and vice versa.

The proposed policy orientations take fully account of the results obtained during the third road safety action programme 2001-2010 , showing that, in spite of important progress made on road safety, efforts needed to be continued and further strengthened.

To achieve the objective of creating a common road safety area, the Commission proposes to continue with the target of halving the overall number of road deaths in the European Union by 2020 starting from 2010.

CONTENT: the European road safety policy orientations up to 2020 aims to provide a general governance framework and challenging objectives which should guide national or local strategies. In line with the principle of subsidiarity, actions described should be implemented at the most appropriate level and through the most appropriate means.

In the framework of these policy orientations, the Commission considers that the three following actions should be undertaken as a priority:

the establishment of a structured and coherent cooperation framework which draws on best practices across the Member States a strategy for injuries and first aid to address the urgent and growing need to reduce the number of road injuries, the improvement of the safety of vulnerable road users , in particular motorcyclists for whom accidents statistics are particularly worrying.

Seven strategic objectives have been identified:

Objective 1: Improve education and training of road users: the current approach as regards driver training remains indeed too fragmented and specialised. The Commission proposes to promote a wider approach and view education and training as an overall process, a lifelong ‘educational continuum’.

The Commission will work, in cooperation with Member States as appropriate, on the development of a common educational and training road safety strategy including notably the integration of apprenticeship in the ‘pre-licensing’ process as well as common minimum requirements for driving instructors.

Objective 2: Increase enforcement of road rules: the Commission will work together with the European Parliament and the Council on the establishment of a cross-border exchange of information in the field of road safety. It will work towards developing a common road safety enforcement strategy, including: i) the possibility of introducing speed limiters in light commercial vehicles and of making use of alcohol interlock devices obligatory in certain specific cases and ii) the establishment of national implementation plans.

Objective 3: Safer road infrastructure: the highest number of fatalities occurs on rural and urban roads (56% and 44% respectively in 2008, compared to 6% on motorways). Therefore, ways should be found for gradually extending the relevant principles of safe management of infrastructure to the secondary road network of the Member States, taking into account the principle of subsidiarity. The Commission will ensure that requests for funding from the EU funds related to road infrastructure within Member States incorporate safety requirements.

Objective 4: Safer vehicles: the Commission will make proposals: i) to encourage progress on the active and passive safety of vehicles, such as motorcycles and electric vehicles; ii) to progressively harmonise and strengthen roadworthiness tests and technical roadside inspections.

As regards the vehicles of tomorrow, the development of ‘cooperative systems’, where vehicles exchange data and interact with the infrastructure and other surrounding vehicles to have drivers optimally informed, is expected to make a significant contribution to road safety. The Commission will further assess the impact and benefits of co-operative systems to identify most beneficial applications and recommend the relevant measures for their synchronised deployment.

Objective 5: Promote the use of modern technology to increase road safety: within the context of the implementation of the ITS Action Plan and of the proposed ITS Directive, the Commission will cooperate with the Member States with a view to: i) evaluate the feasibility of retrofitting commercial vehicles and private cars with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems; ii) accelerate the deployment of e-Call and examine its extension to other vehicles.

Objective 6: Improve emergency and post-injuries services: while the number of fatalities has decreased between 2001 and 2010, the number of injured people is still very high. Reducing the number of injuries should be one of the priority actions within Europe for the next decade. In collaboration with Member States and other actors involved in road safety, the Commission will propose the setting-up of a global strategy of action on road injuries and first aid.

Objective 7: Protect vulnerable road users: the Commission will make appropriate proposals with a view to: i) monitoring and further developing technical standards for the protection of vulnerable road users; ii) including powered-two wheelers in vehicle inspections; iii) increasing the safety of cycling and other vulnerable road users, e.g. by encouraging the establishment of adequate infrastructures.

The proposed policy orientations provides a general framework under which, at various European, national, regional or local levels concerned, concrete initiatives could be taken. Individual measures would be subject to proper impact assessment in line with established EU better regulation principles. The role of the Commission will be to make proposals on matters where the EU is competent and, in all other cases, to support initiatives taken at various levels.