Road safety: from now on it will be easier to punish violators of the rules in foreign countries | Actual

Currently, around 40% of cross-border traffic violations go unpunished, so MEPs adopted rules that will put more obligations on EU member states to work together to help each other find drivers responsible for traffic violations. The new rules oblige Member States’ authorities to respond to requests from other Member States immediately, no later than two months after they have collected the necessary information.

At the request of the Member State where the violation occurred, the state of residence of the violator will be able to take over the collection of traffic fines if the amount exceeds 70 euros and the state of the violation has not been able to collect it after exhausting all legal options.

More violations with cross-border investigations

The updated rules will expand the list of offenses for which the investigative authorities of the Member States will have to cooperate and for which a fine can be imposed on a resident of another Member State. Until now, the cross-border investigation was applied only to speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol or ignoring a red light, but in the future it will also apply to dangerous parking, dangerous overtaking, crossing a continuous line, fleeing from the scene of the accident and other violations.

Clear deadlines and a ban on using private drivers

The EU Member State in which the traffic offense was committed will have 11 months from the date of the offense to issue a notice of the traffic offense and the penalty applied. The notice must state the time and circumstances of the violation, as well as information on how the fine can be appealed.

Members of the European Parliament succeeded in banning private entities from helping EU member states collect traffic fines from foreign drivers (this rule will come into force two years after the rules are transposed into national law).

Online portal

In order to increase transparency and facilitate the implementation of the new rules, the Commission has been instructed to create an online portal listing the rules, appeal options and relevant traffic fines, among other information.

Quote

EP rapporteur Kosma Zlotowski (ECR, Poland) said: “To improve road safety, EU member states need to work together and have effective tools to punish road traffic violators from abroad. The updated rules will help ensure this and will also benefit drivers , who will receive information within a certain period of time, in a language they understand and with a description of the appeal procedure. The ban on using private companies to collect fines will effectively protect drivers from fraud and leakage of personal data.”

Further measures

The new rules on the cross-border exchange of information on violations of road safety rules were adopted with 570 votes “for”, 36 votes “against” and 24 abstentions. Once approved by the Council, EU countries will have 30 months to start applying them.