ECF has, along with 13 other organisations, sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, calling for a ‘strong and timely’ response to the European Commission upcoming proposal on changes to the General Safety and Pedestrian Protection Regulations.

The European Commission will be launching its review and changes to the safety features within European vehicle Type Approval in May later this year. This Type Approval legislation could bring about a revolutionary change for all road users, including for those outside the vehicle with ground-breaking technologies to be mandatory in all new vehicles including Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) to assist drivers keep to the speed limit, cyclist/pedestrian Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) to be fitted in all vehicles, and active turning safety assists for large vehicles as well as better Direct Visions from lorry cabs[1].
 

The letter can be found HERE

The letter is also signed by:

• Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director, European Transport Safety Council
• Eduardo Chagas, General Secretary, European Transport Workers’ Federation
• Sigrid de Vries, Secretary General, CLEPA, European Association of Automotive Suppliers
• Bernhard Ensink, Secretary General, European Cyclists’ Federation
• Eduard Fernández, Executive Director, CITA, International Motor Vehicle Inspection Committee
• Laurianne Krid, Director General, Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Region I
• Jeannot Mersch, President, FEVR, European Federation of Road Traffic Victims
• Ruth Purdie, General Secretary, TISPOL, the European Traffic Police Network
• Stephen Russell, Secretary General, ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardisation
• Ciaran Simms, President, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury
• William Todts, Executive Director, Transport & Environment
• Jessica Truong, Executive Director, Towards Zero Foundation
• Karen Vancluysen, Secretary General, POLIS
• Jean Van Wetter, General Director, Handicap International Belgium

   

ECF has also signed a Joint Statement along with the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR) and the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) to raise concerns with what may be untested and a possibly dangerous driving and rest time regime for bus and coach transport in Europe.

The issue concerns the rules regulating the working time that is allowed for professional drivers of large vehicles. Regulation 561/2006[2] is under review and is currently making its way through the European Parliament and Council[3].

We believe that at the very least the current rules should not be changed, these rules allow for at least a minimum of 3 days off in any given period of two weeks, changes that have been proposed could make it possible for bus and coach drivers to drive for 18 - 20 days with only two days off in between. There is also concern that drivers could be working 16 hour days twice weekly, and could lose rest time per month.

There has been no thorough assessment of the road safety impacts of changes to the legislation, and we would echo the comments of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) that “The EESC regrets the fact that the mobility package, particularly when it comes to bus and coach passenger transport, brings more flexibility in organising rest times without any thorough assessment of passenger, driver or road safety”[4], and those of the European Safety Transport Council (ETSC) that “…the  extension of the reference period for the calculation of driving and  rest time from 2 to 4 weeks could  lead to drivers concentrating their driving time and their rest time, leading to higher levels of fatigue at certain points in the month[5]”
 

The Joint Statatement can be found HERE