European parliament is expected to lead on road safety

At the plenary session in Strasbourg on 9 July the European Parliament voted in favour of sending the Commission’s proposal on the road infrastructure safety management back to the Transport Committee for further discussions. Thus the Parliament has effectively reversed the earlier decision by the Transport Committee, taken at its meeting on 5 June 2007 in Brussels, to reject the Commission’s proposal, which has the potential of saving at least 600 lives every year in the EU. Citing, among other reasons, their wish to avoid additional bureaucratic constraints for the Member States, the overwhelming majority of the Committee members had voted against the legislation aiming to enhance and extend safety standards throughout the EU.