BRAKE calls for review over foreign road users

From BRAKE:

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has released a report 'European Drivers - Crossing Borders Safely', which reveals 18,000 crashes a year in the UK are caused by drivers from continental Europe.

The report calls for:

Better guidance for drivers

Greater information sharing between countries to enable enforcement

A review of licensing standards

One basic problem identified by the ABI is the language barrier, with foreign drivers unable to understand signs in other countries. Unofficial signals, such as flashing your lights as a signal to other drivers, also have different meanings across the continent, resulting in confusion.

A lack of information-sharing across EU countries often means drivers committing offences can escape justice when they return to their home country.

Better information-sharing would act as a deterrent to all EU drivers in foreign countries, who would know that an offence committed in another country would result in them being punished.

Licensing laws are hugely varied across Europe, meaning vehicles on UK roads from abroad are not necessarily up to the standard of other countries. This could mean vehicles deemed unroadworthy by UK standards can drive in from Europe, endangering the lives of UK road users. Driving tests also suffer from the same discrepancies.

Cathy Keeler, Head of Campaigns at Brake says: "This report confirms what Brake already feared; the lack of coordination of driving legislation and enforcement across Europe means drivers feel they can get away with not sticking to, or understanding, local laws.

The differences between countries may be an inconvenience for drivers but foreign drivers who fail to adapt their driving to local laws are putting themselves and other road users at risk."