Two new EU laws to improve cross border enforcement of vehicle driving offences

Two interesting pieces of EU legislation will be coming to the law books of all EU Member States that may have a positive impact on cycling safety.

First, in December of last year the EU adopted an amendment to the EU Cross Border Enforcement Directive.

The original legislation was put in place to pursue traffic offences committed by drivers of a vehicle which is registered in an EU Member State different to the one where they were detected. It is an active database of offences and offenders that links the European Member State vehicle registration system to all other EU countries enforcement agencies.

The previous list of offences included speeding, drink driving, passing through a red light, mobile phone use, amongst others. At the time it was an excellent step forward in bringing to justice those drivers committing offences abroad, however it did have some loopholes that were abused by some, with around 40% of cross-border offences going unpunished due to challenges in identifying offenders or enforcing fines.

The new amendment will streamline and make more efficient the offender notification system to close that gap.

But, importantly it has also added a whole raft of additional offences, including:

failing to keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front
dangerous overtaking
dangerous parking or stopping
crossing one or more solid lines
wrong-way driving
failing to respect the rules on the creation and use of emergency corridors or on giving way to emergency service vehicles
using an overloaded vehicle
failing to respect the rules on vehicle-access restrictions
hit-and-run
failing to respect the rules at a railway level-crossing

Of interest to cyclists include the inclusion of offences related to dangerous overtaking anddangerous parking, but also “failing to respect the rules on vehicle-access restrictions”.

The definition of this latter offense is interesting and includes the following: “…not respecting clearly and visibly demarcated access regulations set for all or certain vehicle categories for the purposes of road safety, such as pedestrian and school zones, and cycling lanes, as defined in the law of the Member State of the offence”. (emphasis added)

The legislation will need to be transposed into national laws by EU member states within two and a half years, meaning the directive will come into effect around mid-2027.

Another interesting piece of legislation very much related to this is the “Union-Wide Effect of Certain Driving Disqualifications”. Through the same system of mutual recognition of offences as the Cross Border Enforcement directive, but this is for more serious offences and includes driving bans. The home country can withdraw someone’s licence if the offence is committed abroad, and the whole of the EU will have this detail on their system; so no more dangerous drivers moving abroad and then claiming a new licence. Some of the offences being considered are:

Driving 50 km/h faster than the speed limit on non-residential roads
Driving 30 km/h faster than the speed limit on residential roads
Drink/drug Driving
Driving without a valid licence

This is still in the process of being negotiated by the European Parliament and Council but should become law very soon.

​Two new EU laws to improve cross border enforcement of vehicle driving offences

Two new EU laws to improve cross border enforcement of vehicle driving offences