Road infrastructure safety: Commission welcomes the provisional agreement

On 21 February, the European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement on the European Commission's proposal for a directive amending Directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management. It is part of the third and final 'Europe on the Move' package that includes a set of actions to modernise Europe's transport system.

Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc welcomed the agreement: “The provisional agreement reached by the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission within a short time is proof of the high priority given to road safety. This will be an important contribution towards achieving our objective of halving the number of road deaths between 2020 and 2030 and of moving close to zero fatalities by 2050."

In the future, infrastructure safety will be assessed more systematically and more proactively for more roads in the EU, helping to target investment. Transparency and follow-up will be improved, and the same advanced safety procedures will apply on roads linking major cities and regions as on the EU's strategic road network (TEN-T). It will also pave the way to benefit from automated assistance and prepare for autonomous driving across the EU. The proposal on road infrastructure goes hand in hand with the Commission proposal to introduce new safety measures in cars, trucks and buses – the General Safety Regulation, on which the European Parliament and Council are yet to reach an agreement.