NEW proposals from the Council of the European Union will force company car drivers to pay financial penalties for motoring offences committed anywhere within the EU, reports the September issue of Fleet News Europe.The Council has called for the establishment of an international cooperation agreement between Member States to ensure the pursuit of road traffic infractions and the enforcement of fines.

This was just one of a series of wide-ranging recommendations to emerge from the latest transport session of the Council, attended by national transport ministers from all Member States. The Council condemned the current death and injury toll on European roads as 'unacceptable' and proposed a series of measures to improve road safety.

These measures include research into the safety implications of telematics systems, a study into the possibility of the compulsory installation of speed limiters in all light vehicles, a new directive to make the front of vehicles less dangerous to vulnerable road users, such as cyclists and pedestrians and a maximum blood-alcohol limit of 0.5mg of alcohol per 1ml of blood for drivers.

In addition, the Council wants to see European Union Member States analyse, share and benchmark their road accident and safety statistics in a bid to identify why some countries have much higher road accident records than others. It also called on transport companies, motor manufacturers and motoring associations to work with the European Union and national and local governments to improve road safety.

And it urged the Euro New Car Assessment Programme to go deeper and further in its crash test appraisal programme by assessing additional criteria such as active safety devices and the safety of pedestrians.

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