29.11.2008 Official Journal of the European Union L 319/59 DIRECTIVES DIRECTIVE 2008/96/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 19 November 2008 on road infrastructure safety management THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 71(1)(c) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), After consulting the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (), Whereas: (1) The trans-European road network defined in Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (%), is of paramount importance in supporting European integration and cohesion as well as ensuring a high level of well-being. In particular, a high level of safety should be guaranteed. 20 In its White Paper of 12 September 2001 ‘European transport policy for 2010: time to decide’ the Commission expressed the need to carry out safety impact assessments and road safety audits, in order to identify and manage high accident concentration sections within the Community. It also set the target of halving the number of deaths on the roads within the European Union between 2001 and 2010. (3)  In its Communication of 2 June 2003 ‘European Road Safety Action Programme, Halving the number of road accident victims in the European Union by 2010: A () O] C 168, 20.7.2007, p. 71. (3 Opinion of the European Parliament of 19 June 2008 (not yet published in the Official Journal), and Council Decision of 20 October 2008. () OJ L 228, 9.9.1996, p. 1. shared responsibility’ the Commission identified road infrastructure as the third pillar of road safety policy, which should make an important contribution to the Community’s accident reduction target. (4)  In recent years, major advances have been made in vehicle design (safety measures and the development and application of new technologies) which have helped to reduce the number of people killed or injured in road accidents. If the target set for 2010 is to be achieved, action must be taken in other areas too. Managing the safety of road infrastructure offers plenty of scope for improvement, which must be used to advantage. (5)  The setting up of appropriate procedures is an essential tool for improving the safety of road infrastructure within the trans-European road network. Road safety impact assessments should demonstrate, on a strategic level, the implications on road safety of different planning alternatives of an infrastructure project and they should play an important role when routes are being selected. The results of road safety impact assessments may be set out in a number of documents. Moreover, road safety audits should identify, in a detailed way, unsafe features of a road infrastructure project. It therefore makes sense to develop procedures to be followed in those two fields with the aim of increasing safety of road infrastructures on the trans-European road network, whilst at the same time excluding road tunnels which are covered by Directive 2004/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the trans-European road network (%) (6)  Several Member States already possess well functioning road infrastructure safety management systems. These countries should be permitted to continue using their existing methods, in so far as they are consistent with the aims of this Directive. (7)  Research is vital to improving safety on the roads within the European Union. Developing and demonstrating components, measures and methods (including tele- matics) and disseminating research results play an important part in increasing the safety of road infra- structure. () O] L 167, 30.4.2004, p. 39.