The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has sharply criticised the European Parliament’s Transport Committee for rejecting key road safety proposals. The ETSC, an independent non-profit outfit based in Brussels, argues that MEPs have missed a major opportunity to reduce road fatalities by declining to support increased roadworthiness checks on cars and motorcycles across the EU.
One measure, annual technical inspections for cars over 10 years old, was rejected despite ETSC estimates that it could prevent around 74 deaths and 850 serious injuries each year in the 11 EU member states where such tests are not currently required. The committee also declined to extend mandatory periodic inspections to all powered two-wheelers, meaning about 70% of the EU’s motorcycle fleet will remain outside the scope of EU rules, despite riders accounting for 21% of all EU road deaths..
Ellen Townsend, policy director at ETSC, said: “This is not the rollback we have seen in other recent road safety files, such as the driving licence rules. But it is not the step forward the EU needed either. Road deaths are not falling fast enough to meet the 2030 target of halving them, and a vote that broadly preserves the status quo is, in this context, a major missed opportunity. The measures that would have delivered big benefits – EU-wide annual checks for older vehicles and bringing all powered two-wheelers into the inspection regime – are precisely the ones that have been left out.”