The Third European Road Safety Action Programme (EC 2003) specifically outlined a key proposal to ensure the proper enforcement of the most important safety rules in the areas of speed, drink driving and seat belt use. This resulted in a Recommendation on Enforcement in the field of road traffic law (European Commission 2003). The European Commission had a cost-benefit analysis carried out on the basis of proposals similar to the Recommendation. It assessed that increased enforcement would result in a total annual reduction of 14 000 road deaths and 680 000 injuries in the EU (ICF Consulting 2003). The Recommendation stated that the European Commission would by autumn 2007 evaluate if enforcement policies had improved sufficiently across the Member States and consider proposing more binding legislation, such as a Directive.

What have been the findings of this assessment and how will the European Commission ensure the improvement of traffic law enforcement in the Member States and cooperation across their borders?