Sufficient parking areas along the European road transport network are needed to allow drivers to rest. These areas must be adapted to the needs of modern logistics in terms of capacity and must provide for a safe and secure environment with adequate rest facilities for drivers and their cargo.
A preliminary study carried out for the Commission in 2007 evaluated the needs for investment until 2020 on the Transeuropean Road Network (TEN-T) alone to be of 1.2-1.5 billion Euros.
Although primarily a responsibility of the Member States, the Commission has undertaken a row of initiatives with the aim to support and to coordinate the efforts of Member States to provide an adequate number of parking and rest areas in order to face the continuous growth of transport.
Directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management recognises that a sufficient number of safe rest areas is important for crime prevention and road safety. This legislation also ensures through road safety impact assessment and audit that when new road sections are built adequate and safe parking areas are foreseen. Furthermore, Directive 2010/40/EU , requests the Commission to define specifications for the provision of information and reservation services for safe and secure parking places for trucks and commercial vehicles.
The Commission has provided financial support to pilot projects to promote the building of secure parking areas along the trans-European network (SETPOS ), and the classification of parking areas according to security and quality standards (LABEL ).
The results of the pilot project LABEL have been taken over by the International Road Transport Union (IRU) in order to promote the establishment of the labeling system developed.
The Commission follows the issue closely and in cooperation with the social partners (IRU and ETF).
