News
No escape anymore! Driving bans should apply across the EU!
Driving bans should be enforced throughout the EU. If you commit a serious traffic offence while on holiday, you will lose your licence.
In the future, this could apply not only in the country where the offence occurred, but throughout the EU. The EU is planning a reform that aims to enforce cross-border driving bans and prevent traffic offenders from evading penalties by travelling abroad.
The purpose: More road safety
The core of this EU reform is to improve road safety in
Europe. Serious traffic offences should be punished consistently and grey areas should be avoided, showing that it has been possible to avoid traffic offences by changing residence or country. Consistent rules and mutual recognition should deter repeated offences.
This is supported by other parts of the EU reform, such as the digital driving licence and the possibility of a suitability test for older drivers.
Limitations of this regulation
However, not all driving bans are in effect across the whole of the EU. Therefore, the EU reform stipulates that, in some cases, the country that issued the licence can decide the validity of the revocation. Specifically, this means: This applies to offences that would not result in licence revocation in the issuing country.
Consequently, the competent authorities can implement alternative measures (e.g. suitability tests), but automatic revocation is not required.
In short, where national law does not provide for the withdrawal of a driving licence, the EU-wide driving ban only applies to a limited extent.
The final decision lies with Parliament.
An agreement between EU transport ministers already exists. However, the final decision of the EU Parliament is still pending. A concrete schedule for implementation is still unknown.
However: The EU Parliament could still reach an agreement, and serious traffic offences must carry the same clear consequences across the whole of the EU.
Source: Pixabay/driving licence, 2534805, https://pixabay.com/de/photos/f%C3%BChrerschein-fahrerlaubnis-2534805/.