NEWS from TISPOL

We are proud to present our 2018 Project EDWARD curtain-raiser video...

At the start of next week, the ProjectEDWARD 2018 website will launch, and we will commence the process off raising awareness as far and wide as possible. This year's theme, as you will see, is that 'zero is much more than a number', and this will be at the heart of our communications efforts in the weeks and months to come. Do watch the video, and share it with your colleagues and contacts. And do check in to see the new website when it opens on Monday 5 February.

Ruth Purdie, TISPOL General Secretary

 

France: speed limit reductions following rise in road deaths

The French government has announced it is to cut the speed limit from 90kmh (56mph) to 80kmh (50mph) on many of the country’s roads. The reduction, which will be introduced from 1 July on roads without central reservations, comes as French ministers seek to address road fatalities, which have risen over the last three years following a steady decline since 1972.

 

Belgium: police launch first 'weekend without alcohol' of 2018

Police at all levels in Belgium conducted a vast operation of roadside checks from Friday 12 January at 6pm to Monday 15 of January, at 6am.

The operation, dubbed “Weekend without Alcohol at the Wheel”, involved the federal road police, the 128 local police districts and the Belgian Institute for Road Safety.

The federal road police reported that a total of 16, 122 drivers were checked during last year’s edition of the operation.

"The statistics on accidents show that drivers still have too much tolerance for alcohol at the wheel,” the police stressed.

In 2016, no fewer than 4,300 road accidents involved at least one driver under the influence of alcohol; “this means that, in Belgium, one in eight incidents causing personal injury is due to alcohol,” the police added.

 

Netherlands: crackdown on texting while cycling or walking 

In order to discourage texting while walking or cycling, the municipality of Amsterdam, GVB and Vervoerregio Amsterdam have started the Superbelangrijk campaign. That's because the number of collisions involving cyclists and pedestrians is on the rise.

In December 2017, the Minister of Infrastructure, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, announced that she was working on a legislative proposal to ban texting while cycling.  This ban is likely to be put in place in 2020.

Rather than wait for the ban to be finalised, Amsterdam has decided to start up a campaign called Superbelangrijk (super important) to warn cyclists and pedestrians of the dangers of cycling or walking whilst texting or calling.

 

Germany: concern grows over medicinal cannabis users who drive

Is it logical that you can have your driving licence taken away if you smoke weed for fun, but those who take it as medicine are free to judge their own ability to drive? Not really, say several experts. Since March last year roughly 13,000 people have been prescribed cannabis by their doctors in Germany under a new law which legalized the drug for people suffering from chronic pain.

There are no figures available on how many of these people also drive. What is clear though is that they are free to drive if they want to, regardless of how much cannabis they have just smoked. According to the law, it is up to the patients themselves to decide if they trust themselves to drive.

This is in stark contrast to people who smoke cannabis recreationally. They risk losing their licence if they are caught smoking a joint, even if they are nowhere near their car.

Read the full article >>

 

 

Congratulations to Nenad Stanković who correctly identified the vehicle pictured in the last Bulletin as a "Moskvich, made by AZLH, car manufacturer in the former Soviet Union."

Some headline dates for your diary during 2018:

Thursday 1 March
Operation Enable is being supported across Europe by TISPOL. This initiative, which has been very successful in the Republic of Ireland, targets motorists who fraudulently use disabled parking permits. More details below.

Thursday 19 April
24-hour Speed Marathon: high-profile enforcement activity taking place across Europe. First organised in Germany, the Marathon has attracted a great deal of positive media attention.

Sunday 1 July to Friday 31 August
Operation Safe Holiday is a new initiative that will promote safer roads, vehicles and drivers during the summer holiday season. Participating countries include Spain, Bulgaria, Germany, Serbia, Luxembourg, Cyprus and the UK.

Monday 17 to Friday 21 September
Focus on the Roads Operation: also new for 2018, Focus on the Road will home in on efforts to minimise driver distractions.

Wednesday 19 September
Project EDWARD: following on from all of our successful awareness-raising efforts in 2016 and 2017, we will once again be organising the European Day Without A Roads Death on this day. There will be all sorts of opportunities to get involved, so do please check for details in future bulletins. 

Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 October
TISPOL Conference: once again taking place at the Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport. We will soon be publishing details of speakers and topics, and will be opening delegate and exhibitor bookings for the two-day event. 

Check the TISPOL website for more details.