92001E2498

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2498/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(13 September 2001)

Subject: Inadequate view of traffic approaching from the right at T-junctions for drivers of coaches with an elevated passenger compartment

1. Is the Commission aware that drivers of coaches with a very elevated passenger compartment have great difficulty in seeing traffic coming from the right at an angle less than 90 degrees, that side mirrors also fail to provide adequate visibility and that drivers can only avoid accidents by asking passengers help them look or even by standing up while they are driving?

2. Can the Commission indicate how many accidents occur because of this blind spot? What are the consequences for highly populated urban areas and for T-junctions on winding roads in hilly areas where visibility is restricted?

3. What can the Commission do to ensure that new coaches in the EU Member States no longer have this safety fault and that, as far as possible, modifications are made to existing coaches?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(29 October 2001)

The Commission is not aware of any accident accumulation of coaches due to problems of indirect vision, neither have Member States informed the Commission thereof.

Virtually all coaches on the European market today have an elevated passenger compartment in order to provide for sufficient trunk space and to improve the sight for passengers. Therefore the driver's seat is on a lower level than the passenger's seats. Although this construction characteristic prevents the coach driver from having a direct view through the side windows of the passenger compartment, there is sufficient view of vehicles and other road users coming from the rear through the exterior and interior rear view mirrors.

At T-junctions, which are mentioned in the question, the front view and the view to both sides is particularly good for the driver. The large rounded windscreen and the large windows in the front door of coaches provide a good direct view for the driver. Right side view is similarly good.

However, there are other situations in which it would be beneficial for coach drivers to have a wider view to the rear. The Commission can therefore inform the Honourable Member that the Commission is preparing an amendment of Council Directive 71/127/EEC of 1 March 1971 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the rear-view mirrors of motor vehicles(1). In this proposal certain characteristics of mirrors, e.g. the curvature of the surface, are modified according to technical progress in order to increase the field of indirect view. Such an extension of the view will also have positive effects for the indirect view of coaches.

(1) OJ L 68, 22.3.1971.