| Author (Person) | Banks, Martin |
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| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.11, No.34, 29.9.05 |
| Publication Date | 29/09/2005 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Martin Banks Date: 29/09/05 The European Parliament was today (29 September) set to call for new measures to reduce the number of people killed on Europe's roads each year. MEPs were expected to approve a report by the centre-right MEP Ari Vatanen which recommends measures aimed at cutting the number of road accident fatalities in the EU, estimated to be more than 40,000 every year. These include 'naming and shaming' those member states which are deemed not to have done enough to introduce road safety measures. "The measures undertaken in EU member states would be compared and everyone could draw lessons," said Vatanen, a former world champion rally driver, who is a French MEP but Finnish by birth. His report says that roads should be upgraded to accommodate current traffic levels. "The road network in Europe has received much less EU funding than any other mode of transport and the Commission should pay more attention, in quantitive and qualitative terms, to the road network," said Vatanen, who is the Parliament's rapporteur on the EU's road safety action programme. The Commission is soon to draft a mid-term review of the programme, which was published in 2003 and aims to halve road deaths by 2010. The report is at the Parliament's own-initiative and is not binding on the Commission or the Council of Ministers. An amendment to Vatanen's report calling for mandatory EU-wide speed limits of 120 km on motorways and 30 km in urban areas is expected to be rejected by the plenary. His report said the EU has an important role to play in conducting Community-wide road safety campaigns, enhancing cross- border information exchange and audits on the enforcement of EU legislation and promoting research programmes. Vatanen said: "I hope this report sends a strong signal to both the member states and the Commission to put road safety at the forefront. The current number of fatalities is simply not acceptable." Article reports that the European Parliament was expected to approve a report by the centre-right MEP Ari Vatanen recommending measures aimed at cutting the number of road accident fatalities in the EU. These were estimated to be more than 40,000 every year. The suggested measures were to include 'naming and shaming' those member states which were deemed not to have done enough to introduce road safety measures. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Mobility and Transport |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
