18 March 2011 – As the Green MEP responsible for road safety issues in the European Parliament, Keith has recently tabled amendments to a Transport and Tourism committee report ‘Toward a European road safety area: policy orientations on road safety 2011-2020′.

Keith’s amendments include:

- asking the European Commission to undertake more action to promote a shift away from private car use towards safer and more environmentally benign transport, such as walking, cycling and public transport

- inviting the European Commission, member states and local authorities to promote ‘bike-pooling’ and ’safe routes to school’ schemes to increase the safety of children

- encouraging the European Commission to propose speed limits of 20mph in urban areas, with the possibility for local authorities to introduce other limits for particular cases, and 75 mph speed limits on motorways, alongside more efficient enforcement of speed limits

- calling for road safety data to cover all road users, including cyclists and pedestrians

- recommending that, as a first step, the fitting of alcolocks to all commercial passenger and goods transport vehicles should be made compulsory

- calling on the European Commission to propose EU legislation to prohibit driving whilst under the influence of drugs, with effective enforcement of drug driving laws

The vote on the amendments tabled by Keith and his fellow committee members will take place in May.