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Reply to the 26th and 27th annual reports of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport

Resolution 766 (1982)

Author(s):
Parliamentary Assembly
Origin
Assembly debate on 28 and 29 January 1982 (26th and 27th Sittings) (see Doc. 4828, report of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development). Text adopted by the Assembly on 29 January 1982 (27th Sitting).
Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Having regard to the 26th and 27th annual reports of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (Doc. 4811), the report of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development in reply thereto (Doc. 4828), and the opinion presented by the Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities (Doc. 4823) ;
2. Seeing that ECMT has undertaken the fundamental task of co-ordinating and improving the quality, safety and cost effectiveness of the various modes of land transport in its member states which, with the exception of Finland and Yugoslavia, are also members of the Council of Europe ;
3. Recalling the historical links between ECMT and the Council of Europe, and stressing the importance of close co-operation between these two bodies, in particular in those fields where they can most usefully complement each other, such as the promotion of road safety, legal cooperation, regional planning and environmental protection ;
4. Welcoming in this respect the organisation by the Council of Europe and ECMT of the 3rd Joint Conference on Road Safety Education for Children and Teenagers, whose recommendations provide an excellent basis for national policies in this matter ;
5. Emphasising that, not with standing the current signs of a decline in the number of casualties in road accidents, efforts to improve road safety - in particular with regard to motorcycles - must not be relaxed, and that the constant growth of road traffic means not only that our countries will have to increase expenditure on hospitals and emergency services and build and maintain roads, but also that any energy policy will become more difficult to implement ;
6. Recalling its Resolution 748 (1981) on energy and the economy, and welcoming the fact that ECMT is stepping up its efforts to reduce energy consumption in the transport sector ;
7. Realising at the same time that it is difficult to co-ordinate transport in Europe satisfactorily - or even to establish a European policy in this field - unless the costs of infrastructure and its depreciation are apportioned between the different modes of transport in an equitable manner and on the basis of common rules and criteria ;
8. Considering that rail transport and inland water transport have major advantages over road transport from the safety, economic, financial and environmental viewpoints, and that governments represented at ECMT should take greater account of these factors when devising their transport policies ;
9. Reaffirming that railways - as an energy-efficient mode of transport - should play a more important role in European transport, especially for medium and long-haul passenger transport, and that ECMT needs to work out realistic criteria for the definition of commercial operations and public service obligations of railways ;
10. Stressing the importance of promoting better co-ordination between land and air transport, particularly with a view to preventing expensive competition between railways and airlines for short and medium distances ;
11. Calling in this connection for greater cooperation between the European railway authorities for the purpose of implementing modernisation programmes such as the use of high-speed trains, inter-city systems, inter-changeability of rolling stock and the improvement of passenger services, in particular on international trains, taking into account the wishes of passengers concerning the rapidity of rail links, the standard of comfort and the quality of service ;
12. Emphasising the economic, social and technological importance for the future of introducing automatic coupling on the railways of Europe, and regretting that ECMT has not reconsidered this matter in the light of Resolution 697 (1979) of the Assembly ;
13. Welcoming ECMT's inter-modal approach to problems in the transport sector, which is designed to ascertain the most effective means of achieving the best possible organisation of European transport from the economic, social and environmental points of view ;
14. Paying tribute to ECMT's efforts in recent years to take serious account of ecological factors and of regional planning and regional development considerations in its search for a coherent transport policy for Europe,
15. Calls on ECMT :
15.1 to continue to give priority to encouraging the development of rail transport in co-operation with the European Communities and the International Union of Railways (UIC), and in harmony with other modes of transport, notably river transport ;
15.2 to complete its work on the proposals made in Resolution 704 (1979) in reply to the 24th and 25th annual reports of ECMT, in particular those on establishing realistic criteria for apportioning the costs of infrastructure, depreciation and operation between the various modes of transport, co-ordinating land, inland water and air transport, harmonising the dates of summer time and railways' summer timetables in member countries, and reducing obstacles at frontiers and elsewhere ;
15.3 to make a study designed to establish as objectively as possible criteria on the basis of which a coherent and harmonised system of fares for public transport can be set up ;
15.4 to take the necessary measures to implement the recommendations contained in the resolution on ways of facilitating access to and use of public transport by disabled people, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 1974 in the framework of the Partial Agreement in the social and public health field ;
15.5 to support any fresh proposal by the governments and railway companies concerned, particularly those of France and the United Kingdom, for the building of a Channel tunnel which would offer substantial advantages to Europe as a whole, not only as regards its network of trunk communications and the growth of trade, but also as regards employment, at least at regional level and in the short term ;
15.6 to carry out its proposal regarding the establishment of "select working groups" with the task of studying other transfrontier links, particularly with the Scandinavian countries, as a preliminary to making practical proposals for the establishment of a genuine European network of trunk communications ;
15.7 to that end, to seek the co-operation of other European organisations and bodies, particularly the European Communities, the International Union of Railways (UIC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (CEMAT) ;
15.8 to consider holding a joint meeting of European Ministers of Transport and Ministers for Regional Planning to discuss the general content of a European trunk communications concept and its implications for the coherent development of the European environment ;
15.9 to step up its efforts to promote and give preference to such energy-saving measures as :
a the combination of different forms of transport, such as containers, palletised transport, scoop bodies, large carriers and, in particular, the "piggy-back" system ;
b experimental private car transport schemes, such as car and van pools and taxi-stop schemes for commuter traffic, which should allow for considerable savings of fuel used in such traffic ;
15.10 to take such measures as are necessary to adapt speed limits on roads and motorways more effectively to the technical characteristics of highways, the specifications and engine power of motor vehicles as well as traffic flows, taking into account in particular the resolutions on the harmonisation of general speed limits adopted by ECMT in 1973, so that they appear more reasonable and are consequently more fully respected ;
16. Calls on the governments of the Council of Europe and ECMT member states :
16.1 to review the closing down of any more railway lines, in view of economic and social needs and of public service obligations and regional planning requirements, and to enhance the part played by rail transport, in particular by acting on the proposals made by the appropriate international bodies (European Communities, ECMT and the International Union of Railways) for the establishment of an effective and competitive European network ;
16.2 to embody in their legislation and administrative practice the relevant instruments of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on the harmonisation of controls at frontiers, and to speed up its work on the removal of administrative, tariff and structure obstacles at frontier crossings ;
16.3 to intensify efforts to remove bottlenecks in international road and rail transport, and to find mutually acceptable ways of jointly financing the necessary infrastructure ;
16.4 to sign and submit to their parliaments for ratification the European Convention on the Punishment of Road Traffic Offences ;
16.5 to harmonise legislation on compulsory insurance for drivers and legislation enabling victims of accidents occurring abroad to be indemnified quickly ;
16.6 to make a greater effort to build separate tracks for bicycles and motor bicycles with a small cylinder capacity ;
16.7 to encourage motor vehicle manufacturers to fit their products with equipment that will increase passenger safety and will as far as possible prevent serious injuries in the event of an accident ;
16.8 to implement the recommendations of ECMT designed to increase the safety of motor bicycles, inter alia making the wearing of crash helmets by users of such vehicles compulsory, and by improving the visibility of two-wheelers and their drivers ;
16.9 to follow up positively the recommendations adopted by the 3rd Joint Council of Europe/ECMT Conference on Road Safety Education for Children and Teenagers, held in December 1980, concerning consultation between parents, teachers and public authorities on ways to make roads to schools safer, the institution of traffic wardens, and the improvement and integration of road safety in school curricula (see text appended to Doc. 4828).