The development of road safety in the European Union

Abstract

One of the main goals of the European Union is road safety and the reduction of road fatalities and serious injuries in its roads. Since road safety falls under the shared competence and therefore many measures are dealt with by the Member States, the European Union, in line with Article 91(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), has significantly developed the acquis in this area, with the European Commission adopting several policy frameworks on road safety focusing its measures on road infrastructures, measures on vehicle conditions and the transport of dangerous goods. This thesis will focus on the measures taken by the European Commission through the publishing of several European Road Safety Action Programmes and White Papers, one of which is entitled ‘Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system’, with its aim being the reduction of road fatalities and serious injuries on the roads of the Member States. The discussion will then turn towards an assessment of road safety legislations implemented by the European Union. These legislations regulate the technical conditions of vehicles, the use of speed limitations devices, the transport of dangerous goods, the Intelligent Transport Systems and the eSafety initiative, safety of road infrastructure and the cross-border exchange of information on road safety related traffic offences, amongst others. Moreover, the case law by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) dealing with road safety will be discussed, as well as how legislation on road safety hindering trade with the European Union could be justified on safety grounds. Finally, the thesis will examine the results on road safety which the European Union managed to achieve throughout the years and the further action which the European Union intends to take in order to reach its goals, namely zero fatalities on the roads of its Member States.