One of the conclusions of the Transport Council meeting held in Brussels on 2 December regarding road safety, considers that controls and sanctions for breaches of road traffic rules should be enhanced, as they remain one of the most effective means to reduce the number of accidents and victims on the roads. For that reason, the Council has agreed on a text which targets cross-border traffic offences with a critical impact on road safety.

As it was recently pointed out at the European Road Safety Days 2010 held in October, although the number of fatalities on the roads of the European Union has decreased by 35% between 2001 and 2009, there is still significant progress to achieve and the target to reduce road victims 50% by 2010 is now far from being achieved. Nevertheless, ministers highlighted that ensuring the free movement of persons and the principle of non-discrimination demands a swift and comprehensive solution for the exchange of information in the field of cross border enforcement of road safety related traffic offences applying, as far as possible, existing systems of information exchange.

Following this purpose, the proposals agreed by Transport ministers would enable EU drivers to be identified and thus prosecuted for offences committed in a Member State other than then one where their car is registered. In practical terms, the new rules will allow for an electronic data exchange network to be put in place to allow for the exchange of the necessary data between the country in which the offence was committed and the country in which the car was registered.  Once the owner's name and address are known, an offence notification, for which a model is established by the proposed Directive, will be sent.

The traffic offences which will now be punished regardless the country of origin of the car and driver and the country where the offence is actually committed include:

• Speeding
• Failing to stop at traffic lights
• Failing to wear seatbelts
• Drink driving
• Driving under influence of drugs
• Failing to wear safety helmets
• Illegal use of an emergency lane
• Illegal use of mobile phone while driving

The Directive does not harmonise either the nature of the offence nor the penalties for the offence, and it will therefore be the national rules in the Member State of offence, according to national law, which will continue to apply regarding both the nature of the offence and penalties.

These legislative proposals must be approved by MEPs in a vote in the European Paliament before becoming law. There is then a two year period for Member States to transpose EU legislation before it comes into force, possibly by 2013.

Beyond this agreement, ministers address many issued related to road safety recalling that road safety is an issue of shared responsibility which requires that actions are undertaken at various levels within the public and private sectors. Council also invited the Commission to examine possibilities to harmonize traffic rules at EU level where appropriate.

Ministers welcomed the submission by the Commission of the Communication concerning the policy orientations on road safety 2011-2020, and endorsed the proposal to continue with the objective of halving the number of road deaths in the EU as a whole for the next ten years and to work on the implementation of the seven key strategic objectives described in this paper.