Road Safety Conventions and Agreements

Recommendation 274 (1961)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate, on 26th April 1961 (4th Sitting) (see Doc. 1275, Report of the Economic Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 26th April 1961 (5th Sitting).

1. The Assembly,

2. Considering the heavy toll of human suffering and material damage taken by road accidents;

3. Noting with interest the work already undertaken to increase road safety at the intergovernmental level in the framework of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT);

4. Convinced that the international Conventions, Agreements and Resolutions on the various aspects of road safety elaborated by the ECE and the ECMT, if effectively implemented by all member countries of the Council of Europe, would contribute to increasing road safety;

5. Noting with concern that, as will be seen from the attached list of ECE Road Safety Conventions, Agreements and Resolutions, not one of the Conventions and Agreements has yet been signed and ratified by all member Governments,

6. Recommends to the Committee of Ministers :

a that it should, in accordance with Article 15 (b) of the Statute, recommend to the member Governments concerned :

that they should, as soon as possible, sign and/ or initiate procedure for ratification of the Conventions and Agreements and apply the Resolutions of the ECE listed in the Appendix hereto in cases where this has not already been done;

that they should implement, if they have not already done so, the following road safety Resolutions adopted by the ECMT on 5th October 1960 :

Resolution No. 11 concerning the education of road users;

Resolution No. 12 concerning the measures to counter drunkenness among road users;

Resolution No. 13 concerning driving licences, the establishment of a file of convictions and infringements of the Highway Code, and first aid;

b that it should report to the Assembly, at the opening of its Fourteenth Session, on the action taken.

Appendix

I-Status as of 1st November 1960 of Agreements and Conventions on Road Safety of interest to European countries concluded in the framework of the Economic Commission for Europe

1. Convention on Road Traffic, of 19th September 1949

Entered into force on 26th March 1952

Member countries of the Council of Europe having signed and ratified :

Austria	Luxembourg
Belgium	Netherlands
Denmark	Norway
France	Sweden
Greece	Turkey
Italy	United Kingdom

The Convention lays down basic traffic rules (overtaking, crossing, turning, etc.) and also prescribes the obligatory equipment for motorcars (such as front and tear lights and registration numbers). The Annexes to the Convention contain details on equipment, weight, dimensions and identification marks of other motor vehicles used in international traffic and a model driving permit.

2. Protocol on road signs and signals, of 19th September 1949

Entered into force on 20th December 1953

Member countries of the Council of Europe having signed and ratified :

Austria	Italy
Belgium	Luxembourg
Denmark	Netherlands
France	Sweden
Greece

Norway has signed the Protocol but has not ratified it.

The Protocol sets out the size and colour of 22 danger signs, 20 signs giving definite instructions and 12 information signs.

3. European Agreement supplementing the 1949 Convention on road traffic and the 1949 Protocol on road signs and signals, of 16th September 1950

Entered into force on 20th December 1953

Member countries of the Council of Europe having signed and ratified:

Austria	Italy
Belgium	Luxembourg
France	Netherlands
Greece

In this Agreement several articles of the above Convention and Protocol have been elaborated in greater detail.

4. Agreement on signs for roadworks, amending the European Agreement of 16th September 1950 (Item 3), of 16th December 1955

Not yet in force

Final signature : France

Accession or ratification by member countries of the Council of Europe :

Belgium	Luxembourg
Italy	Netherlands

Countries which have signed the Agreement but have not ratified it : Austria and Greece.

This Agreement cannot enter into force until Austria and Greece, Contracting Parties to the Agreement (Item 3), have ratified it.

5. European Agreement on road markings, of 13th December 1957

Entered into force on 10th August 1960

Member countries of the Council of Europe having signed or ratified :

Belgium

France

Countries which have signed the Agreement but have not ratified it,

Fed. Rep. of Germany	Netherlands
Italy	Turkey
Luxembourg	United Kingdom

This Agreement is concerned, in particular, with the continuous and broken lines indicating whether or not drivers can cross from one lane to another.

II-List of Resolutions adopted in the framework of the UN Economic Commission for Europe

- Resolution No. 91 on Road Markings, adopted by the Road Transport Sub-committee of the ECE Inland Transport Committee on 10th October 1958.

This Resolution completes the European Agreement on Road Markings of 13th December 1957 and recommends that Governments should include certain provisions in their regulations or instructions to the authorities responsible for highway construction and maintenance.

- Resolution No. 76 concerning objects protruding beyond the bonnet or over the sides of the vehicle, adopted by the Road Transport Subcommittee of the ECE Inland Transport Committee on 14th October 1955.

This Resolution recommends that there should not be at any point in the body-work of a motor-vehicle ahead of the windscreen any technically non-essentialfeature facing forward that is pointed or sharp or makes an acute angle or constitutes a dangerous projection which might seriously aggravate the risk of physical injury to other road-users.

- Resolution No. 75 on the Colour of Direction Indicator Lights, adopted by the Road Transport Sub-committee of the ECE Inland Transport Committee on 14th October 1955.

In this Resolution the Sub-committee recommends that Governments should advise manufacturers and importers that orange should be exclusively used for direction indicators fitted to new vehicles registered on their territory.

- Resolution No. 80 on the Technical Inspection of Motor Vehicles, adopted by the Road Transport Sub-committee of the ECE Inland Transport Committee on 21st September 1956.

This Resolution requires taxis, motor-vehicles and trailers used for passenger transport and motor-vehicles used for goods transport, to undergo at least once a year a technical inspection in order to ascertain whether the vehicle satisfies the statutory requirements, particularly in regard to lights and headlamps.