EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Legislation, Transport

The European Commission speeds up presentation of adequate information services for motorists and adopted two regulations (15 May 2013) to promote the roll-out of “intelligent information services”, such as real-time warnings about dangerous road conditions ahead and information on safe and secure parking places for truck drivers. They can be provided through different means such as variable road signs, the radio and mobile phone applications.

Commission’s opinion

The Commission wants these information services to be interoperable and compatible across Europe, and available to as many drivers as possible along the trans-European road network.

Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for Transport, said: "Smart systems are already part of most citizens' daily life. Timely and accurate information can help us enhance road safety and security as well as transport efficiency."

Reference: MEMO/13/436, European Commission, Brussels, 15 May 2013.

Better information for safer EU roads: facts and figures on road safety

EU figures show that road fatalities have decreased by 43% over the last decade – in 2012 around 28,000 people were killed and more than 1.5 million injured in about 1 million traffic accidents on EU roads, costing society approximately € 130 billion.

Source: This information is based on the European centralised database on road accidents (CARE); see, for example, IP/13/236.  

Among the most frequent causes of accidents are bad weather and slippery roads (15% of fatal accidents in France and around 20% in Finland). Another 15% of fatal accidents in France are attributed to unprotected accident areas. Dangerous parking is estimated to have caused 44 deaths and 1430 injuries in the EU each year. This translates into financial savings of between € 75 and 118 million annually depending on the extent of the information services (i.e. the wider the coverage the higher the benefits).

Estimates suggest that intelligent information services could reduce the number of road fatalities by up to 7%, as well as the number and severity of accidents. They will also decrease delays caused by road accidents, CO2 emissions and the cost of repair of infrastructure. Moreover, they can reduce the time spent by lorry drivers searching for parking spaces up to 30%.

The new regulations do not make the roll-out of information services mandatory. However, if and when Member States, operators and service providers want to develop and deploy such services, they will have to comply with the regulations' requirements.

According to estimates from various studies and research projects, the global effect of road safety related traffic information can lead to a reduction of 2.7–7% for fatalities and 1.8–6.3% for injuries.

Sources: The costs of extreme weather for the European transport system, see EWNT project, VTT, 2012; Analysis of fatal accidents on concessionary motorways, see on ASFA, 2011; other statistics is based on extensive literature review including CODIA, e-IMPACT, PROSPER, Easyway and road operator reports.

Safe and secure parking spaces for trucks

Around 44 people die and 1430 are injured every year because of dangerous parking; that means around 2% of accidents involving trucks are related to parking. Half of them could be prevented by avoiding off-site and dangerous parking.

A combination of static and dynamic information, indicating the location of parking areas and the availability of parking spaces, could decrease the number of accidents by 40%, at the same time increasing productivity by up to €160 million (reducing costs related to accidents – up to €48 million, reducing driving time and kilometres spent for search of parking – up to €90 million, reducing external costs – up to €24 million).

Sources: Data on fatal accidents on concessionary motorways see in ASFA, 2011. Other data are based on extensive literature review including CODIA, e-IMPACT, PROSPER, Easyway and road operator reports. 

The proposed second regulation is aimed to improve information to truck drivers about safe and secure parking places. It is intended to prevent dangerous parking of trucks on the hard shoulder and to help drivers comply with driving time regulation. It also guarantees interoperability and continuity of the information services along the trans-European road network, including across borders.

The regulation defines the share of responsibilities between public and private operators involved in order to set harmonised and standardised rules for the collection, sharing and dissemination of information.

The information will be provided through smartphones or variable road signs and will contain the description of the parking areas, the level of security and safety as well as comfort facilities. Member States will select "truck parking priority zones": where there is a shortage of places in one parking area and information will be provided on other unused parking capacities in the same zone.

1. New regulation

The regulation on “road safety related traffic information services” specifies the process of early warnings to road drivers on unexpected and potentially dangerous traffic situations or road conditions. Such unexpected dangerous situations can be for instance the presence of an animal/person/obstacle on the road, a wrong way driver, a temporary slippery road, exceptional weather conditions, an unprotected accident area or an unexpected blockage of the road.

Road safety related traffic information enables motorists to better anticipate, adapt their driving behaviour according to the message received, and therefore avoid serious accidents.

The current situation and the main problems

In most Member States the key components of road safety related traffic information services (e.g. data collection, organizational and operational framework) are already available, at least for the motorways, although Member States are at different stages of readiness and quality for the provision of the information service.

In recent years, private value chains have developed alongside the existing public ones, leading to a situation where in most Member States both private and public organisations collect, aggregate and validate traffic data in parallel.

There is already a significant market in place for the provision of traffic information services through various delivery channels and devices. Such delivery channels can be roadside variable message signs, radio services (spoken or digital), mobile phone applications and in future even on-board units in intelligent cars.

The existing patchwork of national, regional and local provision of road safety related traffic information is slowing down its overall deployment and hampers the provision of a seamless harmonised service across the EU. The information at the disposal of road drivers varies between Member States in terms of content, format, coverage and quality.

The emergence and proliferation of traffic information and navigation applications from private service providers, with business models based on subscription or bundling of premium services, could prevent motorists from having access to information related to dangerous traffic situations at no extra cost in the future.

The new regulation defines minimum requirements for the provision of road safety related traffic information. This will guarantee interoperability and continuity of the information service along the trans-European road network throughout Europe, including across borders. As a direct result it will enhance road safety and indirectly it will also foster European competiveness and growth.

The new regulation remains technology neutral to fully acknowledge and encourage future innovations.

2. The regulation on information on safe and secure parking for trucks

Information services are providing the necessary indications for truck drivers to decide when and where to stop to comply with social regulation about driving time. Information provided to drivers, transport companies and dispatchers are the location of the next parking areas along the route and the services provided in these areas in terms of security, safety and comfort.

In case of high demand for safe and secure parking in certain areas, truck drivers are redirected from a full parking area to another location where free safe and secure spaces are available in order to avoid dangerous parking. This dynamic information about parking availability will be disseminated through all relevant means (variable message signs on the road, radio, smartphone applications, etc.).

Existing problem

•                     There is no up-to-date inventory of suitable, safe and secure parking spaces for trucks based on a harmonised classification of facilities along the main European roads.

•                     There is very little dynamic information provided to drivers and transport companies about available parking spaces in the different parking facilities for trucks and commercial vehicles.

•                     There is no common definition for collecting, processing, sharing and disseminating these data and for indicating how users can access information on safe and secure parking spaces.

•                     The existing capacity of truck parking areas along the main EU transport corridors is not always used efficiently.

•                     Truck drivers may park on hard shoulders and this leads to accidents.

The new regulation

The new regulation defines minimum requirements for the provision of information services for safe and secure parking spaces for trucks and commercial vehicles. This will be done by defining shared responsibilities between public and private stakeholders.

3. Data collection and dissemination

In order to provide the information services, road operators or parking operators and service providers will collect data on potentially dangerous situations (e.g. traffic, weather, emergency report) and on safe and secure parking places. These data will be made available in a common European format for exchange and re-use by any road operator, parking operator and service provider. Data sharing will be made possible through national digital or international access points. These national access points can take the form of a data repository, database, data registry, web-portal or similar.

4. Consequences and perspectives

The new regulations do not make the deployment of information services mandatory. However, if and when Member States, operators and service providers want to develop and deploy such information services, they will have to comply with the regulations' requirements.

In order to accommodate different national situations and objectives (i.e. local circumstances, organisational framework and capacity of investment), Member States will be responsible for the geographical delineation of the information services.

The Commission's aim is for the road safety related traffic information service to be in place all over the trans-European road network, including across borders. However, to reflect the diverse national situations and to optimise investments, Member States will have to identify on which roads the information services should be deployed first.

The regulations have been submitted to the European Parliament and Council under the 'delegated acts' procedure. The Commission hopes to be able to publish them by the end of June.

Drivers can expect to see these services implemented any time following the publication of the new regulations.

More information, see:

= http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/its/index_en.htm;

= MEMO/13/436;

= General reference: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-436_en.htm?locale=en