The IRU, the voice of the commercial road transport sector, welcomes the new EU rules defining the level of service and security in safe and secure parking areas and the procedures for their approval. At the same time, we remain concerned about the insufficient number of parking spaces in the EU and call for ambitious targets to build additional safe and secure parking spaces.
Following the adoption of Mobility Package I, the European Commission (EC) today issued a regulation setting the minimum level of service that safe parking areas must provide for professional drivers. This includes gender-sensitive sanitation, food and beverage purchasing and consumption options, telecommunications (internet) connections, power supplies, and the presence of emergency contact points and procedures. In addition, four levels of security have been identified (Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze) and will be used to certify new and existing safe parking areas.
The IRU welcomes this important step to improve conditions for drivers as the new rules promote adequate facilities for professional drivers while taking their legally mandatory rest.
The IRU played an important role in the drafting process of the regulation by engaging with relevant stakeholders in the European Commission Expert Group on Safe and Secure Parking Areas for Trucks. The content of the regulation is derived from the results achieved from the EU-funded study carried out in 2019 on safe and secure parking spaces for trucks, in which the IRU participated and provided significant input.
While the IRU welcomes the adoption of the regulation, the lack of safe parking spaces remains a major problem for the road transport sector. With only 300,000 parking spaces currently available in the EU, there is a significant shortfall of 100,000 spaces to meet overall demand. According to a 2019 study, only about 7,000, or less than 3%, of existing parking spaces in the European Union are in areas certified to be safe and secure. While the number of safe and secure parking spaces has increased slightly since 2019, the IRU continues to urge policymakers to provide additional support to improve conditions in this sector by calling for EU funding to build and upgrade new, secure parking areas.
