Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE)

• Society News
• Views

Technical Chamber of Greece opinion on the Road Safety Bill

August 19, 2010

The Road Safety Bill which has been prepared by the Greek Ministry of Infrastructure, Transportation and Networks, adopts to the full the suggestion of the Technical Chamber of Greece, concerning the establishment of the "National Road Safety Council."

The Road Safety Observatory of the Technical Chamber of Greece believes that if the National Road Safety Council works properly, then a very important step forward towards the improvement of road safety will be accomplished.

Also, the same Bill addresses the issue of vehicles' technical checks performed by the "Technical Check Centers". According to the Road Safety Observatory during the last 3 years, 2.500.000 vehicles are on the road without having gone through a technical check (Road Safety Observatory press report, March 23, 2010).  In the same report, Road Safety Observatory expresses its worry about this fact and stresses that the 8-year delay of the accreditation of "Public Technical Check Centers" is a serious problem that needs to be addressed immediately.

The Road Safety Observatory of the Technical Chamber of Greece sets a number of suggestions on critical road safety issues. Specifically:

Although there is prevision for establishing the "Road Safety General Administration" supervised by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transportation and Networks - Transportation Secretariat, there is no prevision for cooperation and coordination with the "Road Safety Control Administration" (which is supervised by the General Secretariat of Public Works), according to the European’s Union Directive 2008/96.

There is no reference to the prescriptive framework of road accident investigations, neither to the minimum requirements in order to educate and certificate the investigators. This suggests that anyone can name himself as investigator, without having the appropriate qualifications.

There is no reference to the drivers' license duration (and especially for the elderly drivers), as well as to their education. Also, there is no reference to the drivers with a medical situation that causes distractions while driving.

There is also no reference to the construction and operation of the "Dangerous Goods Check Stations" along the Trans-European road network, neither to the centralized authority that will operate these stations.

Since the General Secretariat of Public Works has completed the typology and location of the "Dangerous Goods Check Stations", there is no provision for the necessary cooperation for promoting this issue. The lack of "Dangerous Goods Check Stations" gives a very good excuse to the police patrol, who -at this moment- are not doing any roadside checks, using as an excuse safety reasons.  As a result, our country has failed systematically to complete its obligation towards the European Union and send the "Dangerous Goods Check Papers", which means that Greece is subject to penalties.

Moreover, because of the heavy vehicle’s adverse geometrical characteristics, it is necessary to define with more geometrical data the traffic connection of the "Private Technical Check Centers."

Also, there is no reference to the initiation of the technical checks of heavy vehicles and motorcycles over 50 cc.  Our country has delayed these technical checks for 7 months, which means negative costs for road safety.

Finally, regarding the clauses referring to gas stations, Road Safety Observatory requests the following: 

• To retain the existing limits/distances related to the safety of urban transportation.  
• If a gas station has an additional usage, then its minimum distance should be defined in such a way that accounts for the flaming possibility and provisions should be made to have a different egress and ingress point.
• The transitional period of adjustment for the new measures, must be contained to a maximum of 5 years instead of 12 years (as it is now).
• To re-examine the provision that the replacement will be in another location at the same Municipality, as long as there is no prohibition for using a gas station.