Compte rendu in extenso des débats

Jeudi 4 avril 2019 - Bruxelles

7.7. Gestion de la sécurité des infrastructures routières (A8-0008/2019 - Daniela Aiuto)

Mündliche Stimmerklärungen

  Rupert Matthews (ECR). – Mr President, tomorrow is Walk to Work Day. This morning I walked to work; tomorrow I will walk to work. Walking is one of the great pleasures for the human race. Not only is it enjoyable, but it keeps us fit, keeps us active, and keeps disease at bay. And yet, all too often in new developments – and particularly with road infrastructure – the needs of pedestrians are ignored.

I was absolutely delighted to be able to vote for this report, not only because it takes into account the needs of pedestrians, but also because it recognises that this is an area where the individual Member States should be taking a lead. We should not be making everything the same; we need to take account of local conditions and local preferences. So on both those counts, I’m delighted to support this, and I’m looking forward to our roads and highway infrastructure being a lot more pedestrian-friendly than they have been in the past.

  Alex Mayer (S&D). – Mr President, I welcome this report on improving the safety performance of road infrastructure. I am particularly concerned about safety measures to prevent lorries and trucks from hitting low bridges. Britain’s most bashed bridge is in Ely, in my constituency, just down the road from my office. The 9-foot tall bridge has been hit 120 times in the last 10 years, and it’s still getting hit despite the brand new giant warning signs. That causes delays for passengers and big costs in repair bills. We need to learn from others about high-tech and low-tech solutions. For example, how about the use of chains hanging from a gantry just before the bridge which would alert a driver if it hit the top of their vehicles. Mr President, you can’t just try it for size when you’re a professional driver in a heavy vehicle.