Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-09-Speech-3-113"
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"en.20070509.14.3-113"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, on 5 October 2006, the Commission adopted a proposal for a directive on the retrofitting of mirrors to heavy goods vehicles.
Every year 400 people are killed in Europe because lorry drivers have not seen them. The victims are usually vulnerable road users: children on bicycles, pedestrians and motorcyclists. As far back as in 2003, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive 2003/97/EC, which stipulates the use of better mirrors to considerably reduce the blind spot for lorries newly put on the road. All new heavy goods vehicles put on the road since January 2007 have been fitted with these mirrors. This is a very good measure, but what do we do about the millions of existing lorries that do not have these mirrors and that will continue to be driven on our roads for many years yet, creating a significant hazard where road safety is concerned?
The Commission considered that we could not wait 15 to 20 years for the lorry fleet to be completely replaced. We have therefore proposed that lorries of more than 3.5 tonnes put on the road since 1998 should be retrofitted with the same mirrors as new lorries. Where that is not possible, for technical or economic reasons, alternative solutions may be considered. Member States that have already taken measures for fitting better mirrors on existing lorries will be exempt, under our proposal, from the obligations laid down in the directive. Finally, the Commission has proposed fairly tight deadlines for the transposition and entry into force of the directive in order to increase the effectiveness of the measure.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is clear that we have here a means of saving lives that is quite within our reach, and we would be wrong, all of us, if we did not do everything possible to have these measures implemented rapidly. I thank Parliament for all its efforts along these lines."@en1
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