The European Union has taken major steps to crack down on foreign drivers who don’t follow the foundations … [+]
Travelers to Europe who get behind the wheel may soon should tackle more responsibility when engaging in dangerous driving. The European Union has taken major steps to crack down on foreign drivers who don’t follow traffic rules.
New regulations The measures, approved on Wednesday on the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, aim to make sure more drivers registered abroad are dropped at justice in the event that they have committed traffic offenses outside their home country.
The News was announced by the European Road Safety Council (ETSC), an independent non-profit organization based in Brussels.
“Freedom of movement within the EU should not mean the freedom to speed and drink while on the move,” Ellen Townsend, policy director of the European Transport Safety Council, said in an announcement.
Current “cross-border enforcement” rules in European Union member states have helped improve compliance, the protection group said, but in 2019 about 40% of violations by foreign drivers weren’t followed up, either since the perpetrator was not identified or since it was paid The amount of the tremendous was not enforced.
The updated rules agreed by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) address these issues by creating latest provisions designed to enhance cooperation between EU countries.
Automated information sharing between national authorities will proceed to support enforcement, and latest mutual assistance procedures might be introduced to discover the offender and implement fines, the safety group reported.
The most typical and serious crimes include speeding and driving inebriated, but other crimes corresponding to hit-and-run – when a driver leaves the scene of an accident – are also covered by the brand new rules.
The law will come into force once it has been incorporated into the national law of all 27 EU member states.
“It’s great that the EU is tackling this by widening the range of criminal traffic offenses that can be prosecuted and increasing the chances of paying fines,” Townsend added. “It is regrettable that we still do not have the option to apply penalty points across borders – this is an issue that EU policymakers need to return to.” Nevertheless, this deal is a step forward for road safety.”
Road safety abroad is a serious issue for travelers. For example, traffic accidents have been and proceed to be the leading reason for death for healthy Americans traveling to other countries Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT), a nonprofit advocacy group.
“ASIRT is pleased to pass a long-overdue law that will ensure more foreign drivers who commit traffic offenses in host countries are held accountable,” Rochelle Sobel, founding father of ASIRT, told Forbes, “and to that end there will be greater cooperation between them.” countries. Knowing that traffic violations in other countries could be prosecuted and those that accomplish that will face the results is crucial.
“ASIRT continues to emphasize the importance of road users traveling to other countries using information about the regulations, traffic culture, road conditions and penalties in the host countries as drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists,” it added.
ASIRT produces comprehensive information on road safety in its country-specific Road Safety Reviews (RSR). Road conditions, dangerous highways to avoid, driver behavior and other vital information for travelers can be found for nearly 100 countries.
“We remain deeply concerned,” said Sobel, “that despite the fact that traffic accidents pose the greatest risk to their safety, many travelers and companies sending their employees abroad still do not take the initiative to protect themselves and their employees “Potentially life-saving information.”
