TISPOL Bulletin 27 November 2018

Welcome to your latest
TISPOL Bulletin

 

Automotive supplier industry, cities and campaigners call on EU industry ministers to back new vehicle safety
standards without delay

TISPOL has joined a coalition of organisations to call on EU Ministers of Industry to give their full support to a proposed package of new vehicle safety measures at the EU Competitiveness Council meeting on Thursday 29 November.

The coalition is made up of automotive supplier companies, cities and groups campaigning for greater road safety, and includes ETSC, the European Cyclists Federation, FEVR and the Towards Zero Foundation. 

At the meeting in Brussels, industry ministers will outline their initial response, known as a “general approach”, to a package of 16 vehicle safety measures proposed by the European Commission in May.

The coalition, representing €600 billion of annual sales and 5 million jobs in the automotive industry across the EU, together with city authorities, traffic police, safety and sustainability advocates, cyclists, pedestrians and victims groups, says the European Union should adopt the measures without delay and guarantee the safety benefits of the full package without deprioritising certain measures or further delaying the implementation of the draft regulation.

Sigrid de Vries, Secretary General of CLEPA, representing automotive suppliers said:

“The General Safety Regulation represents the next big step for the safety of Europe’s drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. CLEPA strongly supports all the elements of the proposed text.

Besides reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads, the introduction of new safety measures will decrease road congestion, CO₂ emissions, emergency service requirements and related economic costs.  New safety requirements will also push forward European research, development and innovation, contributing to generate growth, jobs and investment in the European Union.”

Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of ETSC, the European Transport Safety Council said:

“With progress stagnating on reducing the 25,000 deaths and 135,000 serious injuries every year on EU roads, it is essential that these measures are adopted in full, and without delay.  This is a historic opportunity to reduce death and serious injury on our roads – especially amongst vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians.  It is also a fantastic example of EU leadership that has a clear and obvious value to every European citizen.  Industry ministers should welcome these measures with open arms.”

Following the agreement among industry ministers, the legislation is subject to committee and plenary votes in the European Parliament and final negotiations between the institutions in a process that is likely to last several months.

Supporting organisations are: ANEC – The European consumer voice in standardisation; European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA); European Transport Safety Council (ETSC); EUROCITIES; European Cyclists Federation (ECF); FEVR – European Federation of Road Traffic Victims; International Federation of Pedestrians (IFP); POLIS – Cities and Regions for Better Transport; TISPOL – the European Traffic Police Network; Towards Zero Foundation; Transport and Environment (T&E)

 

Ireland: road safety chief calls for mobile devices to detect illegal drivers

The head of Ireland's Road Safety Authority (RSA) has called for police officers to be equipped with mobile devices to detect illegal drivers “in real time” at the roadside.

RSA chief executive Moya Murdock said disqualified and unqualified motorists were continuing to drive undetected. “People who engage in that type of behaviour are generally non-compliant in all other areas of road safety,” she said.

Officers needed to be provided with a mechanism where they could check at the road side whether a motorist held a valid licence, instead of waiting until they returned to the station or instead of asking someone to bring their to the station. “That’s not an effective or an intelligent way to police the roads,” she said.

Such mobile devices were available, but she said it was “a challenge to get the commitment and the resourcing of that – to roll out handheld devices to the full traffic core and gardaí in general. All of them need that to be effective.”

 

France: plans to stop drivers from revealing locations of police
checks on GPS apps

Authorities in France will soon prevent drivers from using GPS navigation apps used for sharing information with fellow motorists about where police roadside checks are taking place. 

Community-based GPS navigation software apps such as Waze and Coyote have come under the spotlight in France because drivers are using them to share important information about police roadside checks.

The French police say this is affecting counter-terrorism operations, drink driving and drugs tests, as well as criminal search investigations.

As a result a bill has been drawn up and will soon be presented to the French government that if it becomes law will put a stop to Waze users revealing where police are carrying out their checks.

"The principle is that a criminal who has kidnapped a person, committed a terrorist act or is drunk while driving will no longer be able escape a police check because another driver has reported it to him through a GPS application," said Emmanuel Barbe, the government's inter-ministerial delegate for road safety. 

 

Belgium: three in four find parking policies 'chaotic'

 Three in four Belgians find the country’s parking policies “chaotic”, according to the findings of a survey by the Touring organisation.

Some 80% of respondents feel the Blue zones, where parking discs are compulsory, were not clearly indicated. Only 8% of drivers polled were highly satisfied with the parking places, 22% felt they were poorly indicated and 59% felt parking was too expensive.

Touring, which focuses on road safety, mobility and assistance to road users, said the Blue parking places should be better indicated, including by painting them, or the adjoining pavements, in blue. The association said that it had been receiving an increasing number of complaints and remarks about parking and related tariffs.

From 822 in 2016, the complaints rose to 944 last year which, Touring said, was in part logical because “more and more municipalities and cities have introduced paid parking throughout their areas” and there always seems to be a lack of clarity in parking policies.

 

Germany: experts warn drivers not to rely on technology to keep them out of danger

Inspection experts at Germany's TÜV testing agency say it's important not to let a car's assistance systems completely take over care of your safety.

Even with a feature as useful and simple as cruise control, which lets drivers take their feet off the accelerator while the car maintains a constant speed, the experts say there's a risk that concentration will reduce, as less input is asked of the driver.

The same goes for lane change assistants, which give 'one less thing to worry about' by making sure drivers stay between the lane markers.

Drivers should still use their car as if driving a model from the 1980s, and assume no software or hardware will keep them safe, the experts say. That means regularly checking the rear view mirrors and glancing backwards, and being ready to brake at all times.

 

Portugal: road safety bid failing as deaths rise again

The number of people who have died on Portuguese roads this year is once again up on the year before. This comes following decades of advances in road safety, which resulted in fatalities dropping to a quarter their original number in the space of 20 years.

With a substantial rise in deaths in 2017, the Government said last December that it was aiming to build on the fact that Portugal is one of the safest countries in the world, by making roads safer in 2018. 

But with figures released this week for the first ten months of the year showing an increase in victims, the Government has this year been unable to reverse this.
The National Road Safety Authority (ANSR) revealed that a total of 422 people had lost their lives on national roads this year, up from 420 over the same period in 2017 and well above the 372 fatalities recorded in 2016.
When taking the last 12 months into account dating from 1 November 2017 to 31 October 2018, the numbers make for even more stark reading, with deaths jumping from 493 to 512.

There were however slight improvements both in terms of serious and slight injuries suffered in traffic accidents.

 

UK: possible future insurance savings for drivers who take a cycle awareness course

UK drivers could soon earn themselves a discount on their car insurance by taking a cycle awareness course, according to the Department for Transport (DfT).

The plan follows a recent consultation period and would be used to promote best practice when driving near cyclists and motorcyclists.

To qualify for a reduction in insurance premiums, motorists would need to pass the DfT’s “Bikeability Level 3” course.

This training module is the most advanced of the three that are available, and concentrates primarily on teaching people skills in areas such as passing queueing traffic and understanding driver blind spots.

It is believed van and truck drivers would be the prime target for the initiative.

 

Reporting of alcohol on official
crash statistics

A recent paper analyses how alcohol involvement is recorded in official traffic crash statistics and the issues that need to be addressed in improving the statistics. Worldwide 1.25 million people die in road crashes every year and it is widely recognized that drink driving is an important risk-increasing factor.

Official statistics of alcohol-related crashes are likely to underestimate alcohol-related crashes and casualties, because official statistics are affected by underreporting. The study was designed to gain insight into the definitions, legislations and reporting procedures of alcohol-related road casualties to reach an accurate estimate of the drink driving problem and recommendations on how to improve the reliability and comparability of official statistics. A total of 45 countries, represented by road safety experts, responded to an online questionnaire.

A weighted average of 21.8% alcohol-related road deaths is found in official statistics in the group of 45. However, this number is an underestimate of the real problem because strong indications of underreporting of alcohol-related crashes in official crash statistics are found. Most countries (89%) still base their official data upon only one single data source and in most cases (87.5%) these are the police records for which this study found evident shortcomings.

Study authors recommend that police agencies carry out systematic and 100% alcohol testing of all road users actively involved in all serious road crashes (fatal crashes and crashes with serious injuries). They also recommend conducting additional investigation to assess underreporting and, when necessary, to apply correction factors to estimate “real numbers”. If this is not a realistic option, it is recommended to estimate the number of alcohol-related road fatalities by using additional statistical analysis methods.

Source: Recording of alcohol in official crash statistics: underreporting and procedures to improve statistics, L. Vissers, S. Houwing and F. Wegman, J. of the Australasian College of Road Safety – 29: 3

 

WHEN SHOULD THE DRIVER WITH A HISTORY OF SUBSTANCE MISUSE BE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO THE WHEEL? 

Drivers who have chronically used alcohol or other drugs pose a significant challenge for licensing authorities who must determine whether they are fit to resume driving following completion of rehabilitation. A recent position paper discusses some of these issues related to guidelines in Australia and provides recommendations. 

Assessing fitness to drive in applicants with a substance use disorder presents a specific clinical challenge. The Australian guidelines require evidence of remission and absence of cognitive change when considering applications for relicensing a driver. The paper reviews some of the clinical and biochemical indicators that determine whether a particular person is in ‘remission’ and meets the criteria for return to driving. It provides an overview of the challenges in establishing an evidence-based approach to determining fitness for safety critical activities. There is no internationally accepted definition of ‘remission’. Assessing fitness to drive when there is a history of substance misuse and/or substance use disorders assessment of biomarkers, clinical findings and clinical assessment before the person returns to driving. The authors propose that hair testing provides a reliable and reproducible way to demonstrate remission and provide cost-effective monitoring. Standardised psychological tests, widely used in Europe, could provide a reproducible assessment of the cognitive effects of drug use and suitability to resume driving.

Source: When should the driver with a history of substance misuse be allowed to return to the wheel? A review of the substance misuse section of the Australian national guidelines Edward J. D Ogden, Joris C. Verster, Amie C. Hayley, Luke A. Downey, Bruce Hocking, Con K. Stough, Andrew B. Scholey and Yvonne Bonomo, Internal Medicine Journal 48 (2018) 908–915 © 2018

 

INTOXICATED VULNERABLE ROAD USERS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

At the September ICADTS regional meeting in Prague, the Czech Transport Research Centre presented the results of in-depth accident analysis for 1867 injury traffic crashes since 2011 in the South-Moravian region. 

Even though impaired driving is strictly prohibited in the Czech Republic, from 2011 until today, more than 45 thousand accidents with injury under influence of alcohol were reported by the police of the Czech Republic. 8,516 of them were caused by bicyclists or pedestrians, which are a risky group due to their vulnerability. Unlike for motorcycle riders, helmet and protective clothing are not obligatory in the Czech Republic for adult bicyclists.

Crashes involving these vulnerable road users usually occur in the following situations:
 1) Fall into the car trajectory due to the influence of alcohol on the cerebellum. It is very difficult for the driver to predict an atypical change in the direction of pedestrian movement and avoid the impact;
2) Run into the vehicle trajectory due to cognitive impairment which leads directly to poor distance estimation and inadequate reaction;
3) Staggering when alcohol affects the activity of the cerebellum, which is also reflected in the quality of the movement and keeping the intended pedestrian’s movement route;
4) Absence of retroreflective material which ensures visibility of pedestrian or cyclist in the dark or places with reduced visibility conditions;
5) Lying on the road, which could be caused by impaired judgment and imperfect decision making, high fatigue, or nausea.