As of: February 7, 2024, 12:56 p.m
By: Julia Stanton
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Press
Split
There are currently no uniform rules on driving bans in the EU.
Traffic offenses behind the border often go unpunished.
That should change now.
Strasbourg - Anyone who has a driving ban in Germany can still get behind the wheel in another EU country without any problems.
But that could change in the future: A majority of the European Parliament has voted to enforce driving bans across the EU.
EU-wide penalties for traffic offenders: Loss of driving license if speeding
In the future, exceeding the speed of 50 kilometers per hour will lead to the revocation of your driving license throughout the EU.
In residential areas, even exceeding 30 km/h can lead to the loss of your driving license.
In addition, it should be clarified after 25 days at the latest whether a driving ban applies throughout the EU or not.
Similar regulations currently apply in Germany: Anyone who drives over 40 km/h too fast outside of a built-up area will receive a driving ban.
In urban areas this is already the case from 31 km/h.
Anyone caught speeding at too high a speed in other EU countries could soon have problems.
(Symbolic photo) © Rene Traut/Imago
The MPs also want to ensure that driving without a valid driving license is added to the list of serious traffic violations.
This is already the case with drunk driving or fatal traffic accidents.
It makes it possible to automatically share information about driving license revocation with the responsible EU state.
The new EU driving license was only introduced last year.
EU driving ban reform: European Parliament must negotiate with member states
It will take some time before these rules come into force.
The member states have not yet found a position on the project.
A compromise would have to be found with the EU states first.
However, since a new European Parliament will be elected in the summer, these negotiations will only begin after the election.
If an agreement is reached, the member states would still have around two years to anchor the new requirements in national law.
The project was welcomed across all political groups in the European Parliament.
The SPD MEP Thomas Rudner pointed out that around 40 percent of cross-border traffic violations went unpunished.
The new regulation should prevent this and help reduce annual traffic fatalities.
EU Parliament Vice President Jan-Christoph Oetjen said: “Anyone who commits a serious violation of the road traffic regulations in a country has forfeited their right to drive in the EU.” It is important that violations be defined uniformly and clearly, explained the FDP politician .
Other EU draft laws that affect driving licenses are already causing outrage: pensioners in particular are upset about the planned requirements.
(jus/dpa)