Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-14-Speech-2-040"
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"en.20030114.2.2-040"2
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"Mr President, in the German press preview there was a headline that is very apt for this dossier. It read: fresh goods need fresh drivers. It is actually the case that we are usually more concerned with the economy and competition, and that all too often the issue of safety and the life and health of the public is given short shrift. We recently experienced the
disaster. When there is an accident at sea or in the air the public in Europe is outraged, but the daily deaths on our roads are something that we have obviously become accustomed to. We should not become accustomed to them, however, because there are – as the statistics show – two main causes of accidents on our roads. The first is HGVs with overtired drivers, who are at the wheel for far too long, and the second, increasingly, is the express services, the so-called sprinter class, which represent the greatest potential for danger on our roads and motorways. That is why it is absolutely crucial for us to include these express services, this sprinter class, in this regulation.
In the committee we arrived at a consensus on a series of sensible rules for driving times and rest periods that are realistic and geared to the needs of both drivers and companies. I think it is sensible, if at all possible, for drivers to spend their weekly rest periods at home, where they live, with their families. It is also sensible, if they are nearly at a ferry and can spend their rest time there, for the driving times and rest times to allow them to reach that ferry. Obviously it is not sensible to spend a rest time in a travelling vehicle, and we have therefore stated this in the text.
As Mr Grosch has already said, we can adopt as many wonderful, detailed, even obsessively detailed, rules as we like, but if they cannot be enforced then they are just words. For me, in any case, this is also one of the most important points. At present we have an average inspection rate of barely 1% and it is actually only possible to carry out real inspections, real checks, if both the roadside check on what the vehicle is doing and the check on the undertaking are done in tandem. However, practice in the Member States of the Community is very variable and it is for this reason, Commissioner, that the transitional period, between our bidding farewell to the traditional tachograph and introducing the digital tachograph, has to be as short as possible, so that we can inspect all of the HGVs in the Community by means of a digital tachograph as soon as possible. The fact that this allows a period of 28 days to be monitored in a roadside check will make a huge contribution to improving safety on Europe's roads.
I should like to thank the rapporteur, Helmut Markov, who has done a good job, was very willing to compromise and united us behind his proposals, and also the other Members who were shadow rapporteurs for this dossier."@en1
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