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Cross-border driving leads to thousands of collisions
Page 8
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Foreign truas cause 18,000 accidents a year in the UK; UK drivers cause 5,000 crashes on the Continent. Chris Tindall reports.
THE ASSOCIATION OF British Insurers (ABI) has teamed up with road safety charities and organisations to tackle the number of collisions caused by LGVs driving in foreign countries.
According to the ABI, 18,000 collisions are caused in the UK every year by drivers from overseas and government figures indicate these incidents led to 2,398 injuries last year. But the problem is not confined to the UK. The ABI reports: • UK drivers caused more than 5,000 accidents on the Continent last year.
• In Switzerland, cross-border drivers commit 50% of all traffic offences.
• Cross-border drivers in France commit 25% of all traffic offences in border areas and are responsible for 15% of accidents throughout the country.
The ABI has teamed up with the Automobile Association; Brake; the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety; Roadsafe; and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to call on the UK government and the European Commission to recognise the scale of the problem. An ABI spokeswoman say:' think they are unaware of how much is going on. That's why we did this research. If they were more aware there would be more things being put in place to tackle it."
The group has developed proposals to tackle this issue, including: better guidance for motorists on road laws in different countries; more effective communication between countries for more effective enforcement; and a review of licensing standards throughout the EU.
ART director general Stephen Haddrill says: "With 45 major differences in the road laws between member states it is hardly surprising that crossborder driving is leading to more collisions. Our proposals focus on better information-sharing and law enforcement."
FOR MORE ON THIS AND BELATED SUBJECTS
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