At an ETSC meeting in Brussels on 12 January, Henk Stipdonk presented SWOV's vision on mandatory retroflective contour marking on all trucks, also on the existing vehicle fleet.
EU Directive 2007/35/EC stipulates that from 10 July 2008 trucks with a maximum mass from 7.5 tonnes and trailers (including semi-trailers) from 3.5 tons must be fitted with approved retroflective contour marking. The contour marking must be applied in the prescribed way to pass type approval inspection. From 10 July 2011, not only new trucks must be fitted with retroflective contour marking, but this is also the case for older vehicles that are licenced for the first time (European Union, 2007a; 2007b). Existing vehicles that have already been licenced are exempt from mandatory contour marking.
Although immediate obligation would save about 300 to 500 European road deaths between now and 2030, the EU does not consider retrofit. The main argument is that immediate introduction was also discussed in the run-up to the current directive and was deemed to be not feasible. The duration of the procedure required for retrofit introduction, and the life span of the current trucks and trailers that have not yet been fitted with contour marking, seem to be the decisive factors for the EU. The EU is of the opinion that the gradual replacement of the vehicle park ensures that contour marking will be applied to the entire European truck park on a sufficiently short term.
More information on this subject can be found in SWOV-report R-2015-2: Retrofit introduction of contour marking for lorries.The report is in Dutch, and has an extensive English summary.
