MPs ponder zero-alcohol limit for young drivers

Draft legislation proposing a zero-alcohol limit for young drivers, learner drivers and individuals driving without a licence was discussed at the House transport committee on Thursday afternoon.

Legislation will be submitted to Parliament within the next two weeks.

Transport committee chairman and Dipa MP, Alekos Tryfonidis, reiterated the significant impact of the legislation, which he said was directly relevant to young people and serious road accidents resulting in fatalities.

Disy MP Nikos Georgiou emphasised the preventive, rather than the punitive character of traffic cameras – which are set to receive a major software update amounting to costs of €1,153,000 on March 1.

He appealed to the traffic police to act out of a motivation to cultivate awareness among the population, instead of imposing numerous fines and said that hidden traffic cameras may bear a risk of undermining both measures to prevent road collisions and could affect the trust between the public and the state.

MP Chrysanthos Savvides of the Diko party focused his remarks on preventing fatal accidents linked to drink-driving.  

“In the last five years, 15 thousand drivers have been arrested. Consider how many others are circulating, undetected, mostly young people. Combined with drugs, the cocktail becomes even more dangerous,” he said.

Chairman Tryfonidis announced that a meeting with Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades to discuss several corresponding issues including major road and development projects, port and infrastructure issues, the registration procedures for used vehicles, as well as the Takata airbags, has been scheduled for February 19.

The committee was meeting after Vafeades earlier on Thursday announced plans to make legislative changes to ensure road safety, including the mandatory use of reflective markings on helmets and protective gear.

“We had 17 deaths of motorcyclists and nine pedestrians last year. The police have put forward a series of recommendations for action, a competent committee has been appointed, which will set out an action plan, and these will then be announced in separate announcements,” he said.

As part of its work, the committee will examine the current traffic camera system and analyse the data collected from the date of its implementation until today.

Based on its analysis, the committee will then propose recommendations which will be provided to the minister by March.

“After 2-3 years since its operation, it is a good time to assess what went well and what didn’t,” he said.

In addition the committee is expected to propose measures to upgrade the training programmes for drivers in collaboration with the road transport department and the police.

“We [will] cover the whole range of drivers, we all want to become better drivers and that is why we recognise the importance of training and we will target it with various measures,” he said.

These measures will include creating necessary infrastructure for training, reducing mobile phone use and identifying of other areas of improvement.

The training courses will primarily target young drivers and those who have committed traffic offences, which will be given the chance to reduce their penalty points by attending such trainings.

“One of the gaps is identifying drivers using mobiles. If you remember, last year we had about 19 fatal accidents, which the police identify as being due to driver distraction, and that points to mobile use,” Vafeades said.

“At the initiative of the justice minister, we are seeking better coordination between the relevant services to bring meaningful results,” Vafeades said.

In this context, the authority to suspend the licence of drivers operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs will be moved from the road transport department to the police.

“This is considered a solution that will remove drivers who drive under the influence of drugs from the road network, which until now could take more than a week,” he said.

Vafeades added that drivers found to be driving under the influence of drugs will now automatically have their licence withdrawn.

In view of the publicly debated use of electronic bicycles and motorcycles, the minister said that a study to draft corresponding legislation was currently underway.

The study is expected to provide clarifications  regarding the regulation of their speed and the areas in which their use is permitted. However, for the time being, Vafeades ruled out the idea of equipping bikes or electric bikes with number plates.

“It is not practically feasible to give a registration number to bicycles. The same goes for electric bicycles. The police make checks and, if they detect a violation of the law, withhold the bike,” he said.