Addressing the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting on preventing and combating road freight crime and providing secure truck parking, IRU General Delegate to the EU, Michael Nielsen, today called for urgent action from Member States against the increasing problems of attacks on truck drivers, their cargo and fuel, with 1 in 6 drivers being attacked in a five year period resulting in costs of over EUR 7 billion. He urged Council Members to establish national multidisciplinary consultation platforms involving all actors in combating road freight crime, and highlighted the benefits of the IRU online app TRANSPark, which gives transport operators access to the location of secure parking areas to keep their staff, cargo and fuel safe from attack by road pirates.

Mr Nielsen welcomed the EC proposal for secure parking areas every 50km on the European core network in the TEN-T proposal, but insisted that location data for all parking areas, including information on crime hot spots, should be provided to the IRU by responsible Authorities.

• Learn more about TRANSPark

The IRU called upon the European Parliament stakeholder consultation on road infrastructure funding to cover all modes of transport and stop excluding road transport from multimodal corridors which reduces transport efficiency by drawing funding away from vital areas of the TEN-T network. The IRU also highlighted the need for an interoperable EU road tolling system.

The IRU, however, welcomed the EC proposal for secure rest areas on Europe’s core network, which is essential to significantly reduce attacks on drivers and fuel and cargo crime, as well as to allow drivers to meet driving and rest time rules, and also supported the priorities of the TEN-T funding package that focused on removing bottlenecks and missing links in the TEN-T network as well as improving access to all EU regions.

The IRU has published a manual for bus and coach operators, providing them with useful information before the 1 March 2013 deadline, regarding their obligations to passengers and aiming to promote increased service quality within the sector.

• Download the new IRU manual.

On the occasion of the IRU Academy meeting for Accredited Training Institutes (ATIs), Directors were briefed on how specific practical components of the IRU Academy training programmes, coupled with clear and concise procedures as highlighted in the IRU Driver Checklists, can effectively improve road safety and transport while achieving the objectives of the UN Decade of Action on Road Safety.

• See the IRU Academy ATI meeting presentations and speeches
• See IRU Driver Checklists
• More on IRU Academy Programmes

Participants today at the IRU Academy Seminar on road transport training highlighted the role professional training plays in significantly improving safety records in the League of Arab States region and worldwide. They came to the conclusion that focusing on human behaviour is paramount in effectively reducing road accidents and managing today’s changing business environment.

The seminar was organised in partnership with the League of Arab States, the Arab Union of Land Transport (AULT), the Royal Automobile Club of Jordan (RACJ), and with the support of the Islamic Development Bank.

• See the Seminar presentations and speeches
• See IRU Action for the UN Decade for Road Safety 2011-2020

An IRU Academy workshop, jointly organised with the Arab Union of Land Transport (AULT), today brought together high-level government transport officials and industry representatives which highlighted the need for IRU Academy training to address key industry concerns, while contributing to facilitated trade and increased road safety.

Participants emphasised the need to establish genuine Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), in particular between governmental authorities, the IRU Academy and its Accredited Training Institutes, in order to achieve common economic, social and environmental objectives.

In the framework of European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee discussions on the new EC proposal to introduce tougher noise emission standards, the IRU calls on the European Parliament to extend noise reduction measures to all modes of transport and introduce measures that will allow commercial transport operators to increase flexibility and efficiency, while guaranteeing an efficient depreciation on their investment.

Transport noise can only be reduced if a number of issues are taken into account, such as providing investment guarantees and incentives to operators, and by developing the appropriate infrastructure, such as low noise pavements and sound barriers which optimise low noise vehicle performance.

• See IRU Position Paper on vehicle noise