Preliminary assessment of the third payment request of Romania (2024)

better vehicle construction, improved road infrastructure and lower speeds have the capacity to reduce the impact of car crashes preventing deaths and serious injuries. In this regard, Romania approved Law No. 383/2022 setting-up e-SIGUR, a system of national interest for monitoring road traffic, designed and implemented according to similar tools in other EU countries, such as in France, Iceland or Bulgaria, considered as best practices. As stated under paragraph a) of Article 10 (2) of Law No. 383/2022, one of the functions of e-SIGUR is to identify any breaches of the maximum permissible speed limit of vehicles on a specific road sector.

• - […] introduction of speed management system and mandatory safety features […];

Articles 7(3), 9 and 10 of Law 383/2022 provide for e-SIGUR to collect data on vehicles’ speed to create alerts on possible traffic offences, including as regards exceeding speed limits for a given category of vehicle or road section. Article 10 (2) sets out the following mandatory safety features based on which e-SIGUR detects deviations from traffic rules affecting traffic safety, namely: (i) the maximum speed limit for the category of vehicle on a certain road sector; (ii) prohibitions or restrictions to drive a vehicle on one of the lanes/direction of the road; (iii) compliance with the red traffic light; (iv) the prohibition to drive a vehicle on public roads which has a suspended registration; (v) rules regarding railway level crossing; and (vi) the prohibition to adopt an aggressive behavior when driving vehicles on public roads. Furthermore, Article 9 of this Law specifies that the system also collects for this purpose data regarding sounds, weight and gauge of the vehicles, information on atmospheric conditions, road traffic signposting and the status of road infrastructure, processed to ensure safety traffic.

Moreover, as presented under the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030 - Next steps towards "Vision Zero", GD 682/2022 established a set of eight key performance indicators to measure progress regarding road safety, namely: speed, use of safety belt, protective equipment, alcohol, driver distraction, vehicle and infrastructure safety and post-collision care (page 27). These eight key performance indicators, along with indicators on deaths and serious injuries, represent the basis for monitoring progress towards achieving the objective of moving towards zero fatalities due to road transport by 2050 at EU level.

• - […] revision of traffic rules including priority for vulnerable users;

Romania provided a list of amendments (referred to in the evidence mentioned under point viii above – ‘List of changes to traffic rules legislations in the period 2020 – 2030, issued by the Ministry of Transport on 25 January 2024’) to the traffic rules legislation, including with regard to priority for vulnerable users. These amendments include:

  i.    Article I(4) of Government Ordinance No. 3 of 27 January 2022 amended the definition of
        ‘vulnerable road users’ in Article 3(o) of Law No. 265/2008 regarding traffic safety
        management on road infrastructure, and defined them as road users who do not use
        motorized vehicles, especially cyclists and pedestrians, as well as users of two-wheeled
        motorized vehicles. This Government Ordinance was published in the Official Journal No. 91
        on 28 January 2022 and entered into force on 31 January 2022, in accordance with Article
        12(1) of Law 24/2000 on the rules of legislative technique for the drafting of legislative acts.
  ii.   Article 54(1) and recital (i) of Article 100(3) of Government Ordinance No. 1 of 27 January
        2022 amending GEO 195/2002 on traffic on public roads, introduced the interdiction and
        sanctions for drivers adopting an aggressive behaviour in traffic. Recitals (g) and (h) in
        Article 102(3) and Article 108(3) introduced sanctions for failure to comply with priority and
        overtaking rules overtaking or unjustified driving on the emergency lane. This Government

Ordinance was published in the Official Journal No. 89 on 28 January 2022 and entered into force on 31 January 2022, in accordance with Article 12(1) of Law 24/2000 on the rules of