Around 20,000 people lost their lives in car accidents in the EU last year. To help increase road safety, the bloc is reviewing legislation on driving licenses. Would lowering the minimum driving age to 17 years be a good idea?
00:00Around 20,000 people lost their lives in car accidents in the EU last year.
00:20To help improve road safety, the blog is reviewing legislation on driving licenses.
00:26But some of the changes are controversial, namely the lorrying off of the minimum driving age.
00:32EU Decode takes you through the revision just agreed by the European Parliament and Council.
00:37Under the new rule, 17-year-olds will be allowed behind a car wheel when accompanied by a more experienced driver.
00:44They may also be licensed to drive lorries under certain conditions.
00:48You need to be 21 to do that now.
00:51New drivers will face a two-year probationary period with stricter rules and penalties for driving while intoxicated.
00:59Driving tests will check awareness of risks to pedestrians, cyclists and scooters.
01:06The directive also aims for new countries to harmonize medical screen for those taking tests for the first time or renewing their licenses.
01:15Let's see how all these changes are perceived by Europeans.
01:18Yes, I agree.
01:21I think it's a bit similar to the United States, in which they have licenses to be able to practice at home with someone responsible, who has a card.
01:29For that reason, in general, I think they must be subject to a period of labor.
01:34There are a lot of people there who should be able to do it, right?
01:38There is no exam.
01:40And perhaps even so, there are more rules and the older people, many times, they don't know these rules.
01:47The demon doesn't matter, because they're driving one another.
01:49The other can't do anything.
01:51If you say that the other is going on a bike or a bike or another, the other can't do anything.
01:55I believe that 18 years old, it's even a very small age for the people to guide themselves.
02:03We're not going to do anything.
02:08We're not going back to the cars near the distance of the kids.
02:12It's been a relief.
02:13It should be a bit more lofty, because during the age of new age, you cannot take a step.
02:20You cannot take a step at the risk.
02:24Euronews reporter Gerardo Fortuna will help us navigate through these rule changes.
02:30Statistics say that two out of five fatal car accidents involve people and 30 years old.
02:37What could change with these new rules for young drivers?
02:41It's striking statistics indeed.
02:43One key change is this two-year probation period for new drivers
02:48in which penalties, stricter penalties, will apply for not using seatbelts or drink driving.
02:56But also another interesting aspect is the so-called accompanied driver.
03:01So 17 years old can start practicing already under the supervision of a more experienced driver.
03:09These are rules that are already existing in certain countries,
03:12but these are going to become common standards at European level. This is what we call harmonization.
03:17The directive also aims to harmonize the medical screening process for people
03:23both obtaining license for the first time or renewing it. What will change?
03:28Some countries will keep doing mandatory health checks. Others could require to fill this self-assessment.
03:36Let's say it's still a bit controversial, but there's not going to be like a new wide rule,
03:42but there's the encouragement in the directive to have some consistency when it comes to the health assessments.
03:49And finally, the Parliament and the Council also agreed to review the law on driving disqualifications.
03:57What will be the changes?
03:59It's an important update because until now, if you commit a major offence, let's say you caught drink driving on holiday in another new countries,
04:12your licenses could be suspended in that particular country where you committed the offence and not elsewhere.
04:19So these new rules will fix this loophole. There are going to be three serious offences, they're called serious,
04:26and are being caught drink driving, injuring someone else while driving, and excessive speed limits driving above 50 km per hour than the limit.
04:40The review also aims to expand the use of the digital driver's license.
04:45They already exist in Denmark, Spain and Germany, but a uniform model should be available across the EU by 2028.
04:52However, drivers will continue to be entitled to a physical driving license.
04:57They can use it, for example, in countries outside the EU that don't use digital systems.
05:03Let's go deeper into our decoding with German Green MEP Jutta Paulos that led negotiations here at the European Parliament.
05:13How do you react to the statement by the European Transport Safety Council that allowing 17-year-old people to drive,
05:22including lorries, would worsen road safety and that this should be optional for member states?
05:28Well, of course, it is always a risk if you expand the possibility to drive heavier vehicles. This is clear.
05:35But I think there are sufficient safeguards. The accompanying person has to have a good education for that.
05:42And also member states will, of course, have a look at how do accidents develop, how do incidents develop,
05:48and will it actually help to tackle the driver shortage?
05:53And how confident are you that the member states will have enough means of enforcement to implement the two-year probation period,
06:03so that they monitor close when young people might, you know, having reckless conduct in terms of drunk driving and other behaviors?
06:12Well, in Germany we already have this probation period for quite a long time.
06:18And, of course, enforcement is always an issue on any regulation.
06:23But we have witnessed a very strong, let's say, responsibility also by those young people,
06:31because they know if they get caught driving with alcohol or drugs or whatever, their driving license will be withdrawn,
06:42and it was extremely expensive. So they have, let's say, a very good motivation to behave.
06:49What will be done to address the potential risks linked to the digital driving license?
06:56As some experts said that it might increase risks of cyber attacks, you know,
07:03insecurities in terms of protection of the driver's data.
07:07This is a test case also for the EU digital wallet, because this is something which we have already in other legislation,
07:14but right now we don't have anything that can go in that wallet.
07:18And around this digital wallet we have a lot of provisions concerning cyber security, concerning forgery,
07:27concerning fraud, concerning theft of digital data.
07:32If people use this EU digital wallet, I don't see a lot of problems, actually.
07:37Road safety is a shared responsibility between the European institutions and member states,
07:42although Brussels is playing a greater role now.
07:45The EU has set the so-called Vision Zero targets to reduce fatalities by 50% by 2030,
