Travelling Abroad? Beware of new enforceable motoring fines

It is slowly getting to that time of the year where many of us are eager to travel to much warmer weather to enjoy a well-deserved vacation or a family trip. However, from 06 May 2017, there may be something more than a sunburn following you home! If you take to the roads on your excursion out of the UK and commit a motoring offence such as speeding, drink driving, running a red light, etc., you can expect a fine to follow in the mail! This is all due to the Cross Border Enforcement Directive that has been transposed into UK law.

The directive is aimed at tracking down people who commit traffic offences in vehicles which are registered in an EU member state different to where the offence was actually committed. Its primary aim would be to allow police forces/enforcement authorities where the offence was committed to pursue and fine the driver or registered keeper of the vehicle.

This directive has been implemented by 25 out of 28 member states of the European Union into their law, and as of the 6th of May it will be implemented into UK law as well. All other members have had the directive transposed into their law since 2015, however the UK, Ireland, and Denmark had until 2017 to fully implement the directive.

The directive covers 8 specified offences which includes:

• Drink Driving
• Drug Driving
• Speeding
• Running red lights
• Mobile phone offences
• Lane contraventions
• No seatbelt, and
• Not wearing a helmet

This means that if you’re traveling abroad and you commit one of these motoring offences the authorities from that specific country will be able to contact UK authorities to pursue the fine against you.

The directive will be particularly useful for offences which can be detected automatically, such as speeding and running red lights.

Each EU member state who has the directive in place will have contact point for the system. This contact point will allow them to have access to an exchange system with the identification of drivers. When an offence is committed, the contact point will allow prosecuting authorities from the member state to search through our information system.

If the authorities from the member state where the offence was committed wish to follow up on the fine, a letter will be sent to the registered owner of the vehicle. This letter must:

• Be in the language of the registered vehicles certificate
• Contain relevant information about the offence
• The nature of the offence
• The date and time of detection
• The article of the piece of legislation infringed upon, and
• The legal consequences of the offence

The Department of Transport has stated that there is no transfer of penalty points to UK Driver Licences for motoring offences committed abroad.

No. The level of fine will be the same amount that a registered owner of that country would receive. This means, depending on where the offence was committed, it could be more, or less, than a fine you would receive in the UK.

If you ever travel abroad again, the EU have produced a guide which can be viewed online here and downloaded as an app to ensure that drivers can familiarise themselves with the driving laws of the 28 member states before they visit and take to the road.