Part 1 - Myths & facts: Content of the current Commission Proposal

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Responding to progress made in the scientific understanding of the role played by infrastructure in the cause and consequences of road accidents, upon a specific request by the European Parliament following a review of the Commission’s 2003 Road Safety Action Programme (RSAP) and with the support of representative organisations of the European road community, the European Commission published on 5 October 2006 a proposal for a Directive on road infrastructure safety management.

Scope of application

The legal scope of the Directive is restricted to the Trans-European Road Network (TERN), comprising 89,000 km of motorways and main roads (Articles 71 and 154 of the Treaty) whether they are at the design stage, under construction or in operation. Member States may freely decide to extend the Directive to other portions of their road network.

Overall objectives of the Directive

• Increase the safety of new roads through continuous adaptation to the latest safety requirements;
• Bring about a common high level of safety of roads in all EU Member States;
• Create an awareness for safety in order to achieve informed decisions on planning and design;
• Make safety implications of decisions more transparent;
• Allow the collection and the distribution of the available expertise in order to better exploit research results;
• Make better use of limited funds for more efficient and safer construction and maintenance of roads;
• Allow for a better collection, treatment and dissemination of safety-related information.

Main instruments

The Directive proposes a comprehensive system of road infrastructure safety management centred on four procedures already implemented in many EU Member States:

(1) Road safety impact assessments will help strategic decision-making about the safety implications of new roads or major changes of operation of existing roads, especially on the adjacent network.

(2) Road safety audits shall provide for an independent control and recommendations for technical verification of the design of either a new road or a rehabilitation of an existing road.

(3) Network safety management is to target remedial measures to parts of the network with high concentrations of accidents (“high risk road sections” or “black spots”) and/or a high potential to avoid them in the future.

(4) Safety inspections as part of regular road maintenance will allow detecting and reducing, in a preventive way, risks of accidents through the most cost-efficient measures.

Obligations of Member States

Member States shall ensure that a road safety impact assessment and road safety audits are carried out by trained personnel for all infrastructure projects at the feasibility, planning, design, pre-opening and early operation phases.

Member States shall further ensure that the auditors set out safety critical design elements in an audit report for each stage of the infrastructure project, as well as proposals to remedy any unsafe features identified. The auditor shall not have been involved in the conception or operation of the relevant infrastructure project.

Member States shall ensure that management of high-risk road sections (exact appreciation left to Member States) and inspections of the existing road network are carried out on a regular basis. Member States shall further rank every road section on the trans-European road network within their territory according to accident cost reduction potential and ensure that road users are warned of the existence of a high risk road section by all appropriate measures.

Supporting measures

• For each accident involving one or more fatalities or severe injuries occurring on the TERN, a complete accident report must be drawn up by the competent entity.
• Road safety auditors must undergo or have undergone an initial training resulting in the award of a certificate of competence, and follow periodic re-training at least every seven years.
• The average social cost of a fatal accident and the average social cost of a severe accident occurring will be determined by each Member State.
• The Commission shall be assisted by a Committee (according to the recently updated Decision 1999/468/EC) to ensure a consistently high level of road safety throughout the Trans-European Road Network, which should be reflected in the national guidelines.

Entry into force

In order to assist the competent entities in the application of the Directive, Member States shall ensure that national guidelines are adopted within three years from its entry into force. These national road safety guidelines shall be made available to all interested parties.

Member States shall report to the Commission on the implementation of the Directive every four years. This report shall include among others contact details of the entities responsible for the implementation of the guidelines and an assessment of the need to amend guidelines on road design, signing and signalling including a list and a description of road designs that have shown to be very high risk or that have a high potential to reduce risk.

The proposed Directive does not impose harmonised technical standards or requirements, but leaves the Member States a wide degree of autonomy in the implementation of these measures.

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