The European Parliament has adopted a legislative report on a directive to upgrade road safety management standards which aims to establish EUwide standards on road infrastructure management. Safety standards for roads, in particular in road design maintenance, differ greatly between the Member States. The Directive requires the establishment and implementation of rules relating to road safety impact assessments, road safety audits, the management of road network safety and safety inspections by the Member States. To raise standards, the draft directive provides for impact assessments of the effect of road building on safety, safety audits and inspections, and improved safety in the existing road network. This would include the identification of high-risk road sections as well as the use of intelligent road signs and intelligent transport systems and telematics services for emergency and signage purposes. The Transport Committee initially rejected the draft directive outright, on the grounds that it risked creating too much red tape and that this area was best dealt with at national level, but negotiators have now reached an agreement reached with the Council. The report by Helmuth Markov of Germany was passed by a vote of 498-8. MEPs said that Member States must ensure that signs are in place to warn road users of road infrastructure segments that are undergoing repairs and which may thus jeopardise the safety of road users. These signs must also include signs visible during both day and night time and set up at a safe distance. Parliament underlined that sufficient roadside parking areas are important not only for crime prevention but also for road safety. Parking areas enable drivers to take rest breaks in good time and continue their journey with full concentration. The provision of sufficient safe parking areas should therefore form an integral part of road infrastructure safety management. A range of amendments on assessments and audits, sufficient roadside parking areas in order to promote crime prevention, and on the use of uniform signs EU-wide in order to warn road users of road infrastructure segments undergoing repairs was also tabled. MEP Jim Higgins of Ireland welcomed the measures he said would also help ensure increased protection of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists, some 8,000 whom are killed in road accidents each year while another 300,000 are injured. One of the biggest obstacles to adopting EU-wide measures was the wide disparity in Member States in what kind of road safety measures they felt were necessary, and some MEPs were reluctant to intervene in what was seen as internal policies of those countries. Private road safety organisations have also been pushing for tougher standards, especially in areas such as break-down lanes and highway construction sites they said are not properly marked to protect oncoming motorists.