Parking areas

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.

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.

The European Commission carried out a Study on Safe and Secure Parking Places for Trucks, which quantifies and locates the number of places needed and proposes a new parking standard called EU-Parking.

Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network stipulates that every 100 km, the core network shall be equipped with parking areas which enable HGV drivers to meet the rest times required by EU law and to benefit from safe and secure parking conditions.

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 assessments and audits, 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 (Intelligent Truck Parking).

On the basis of Directive 2010/40/EU, the Commission has adopted its Regulation 885/2013 on the provision of information services for safe and secure parking places for trucks and commercial vehicles.

Legislation

Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network

Directive 2010/40/EU on the framework for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in the field of road transport and for interfaces with other modes of transport Text with EEA relevance

Directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management

Regulation 885/2013 on the provision of information services for safe and secure parking places for trucks and commercial vehicles

Policy and other related documents

Council of Ministers Resolution on combating road freight crime and providing secure truck parks (8-9 November 2010) recommending Member States to use the LABEL security certification scheme

Study: Feasibility of organizing a network of secured parking areas for road transport operators on the trans- European road network (January 2007)

Links

Study on Safe and Secure Parking Places for Trucks