ROAD safety was one of the hot topics on the European Parliament's Strasbourg agenda this month.

MEPs approved a package of measures designed to reduce the dangers to children in cars. Under-three-year-olds will be banned from travelling in cars, unless they are strapped into a baby or child seat. Meanwhile, older children will have to use kid-sized seats, or booster cushions.

The first bit of this legislation is uncontroversial, but questions are likely to be raised about the requirements for older children. Yet, adult seat belts are not designed for children. In an accident, youngsters can sometimes slip under loosely-fitting belts, or the belts themselves can cause major neck and stomach injuries.

Britain has a pretty good record when it comes to the safety of children in cars. But we can't be complacent. Around 40 under the age of 12 are killed in motor vehicles each year. Five hundred more are seriously injured in car crashes, and 10,000 suffer minor injuries.

MEPs also voted this month for the compulsory wearing of seatbelts in coaches. This will close a current loophole in UK law where seatbelts must be fitted in coaches but are not legally required to be worn. Coach passengers often feel a false sense of security. Yet failure to belt up in a crash can cost them their lives. The new seatbelt laws now go to European transport ministers for final decision. If approved, the measures will become law throughout the EU within three years. And that's not all. The EU is also taking action to deal with sleepy bus and truck drivers on Europe's roads.

Earlier this year, MEPs backed new laws to ensure that commercial transport drivers have proper breaks and rest periods. We did this not only for their own safety, but also for the safety of other road users, including pedestrians.

Overall, 42,000 people are killed and 1.7 million injured on Europe's roads each year. Greece and Portugal are the two most dangerous EU countries, with 243 and 212 deaths per million people respectively. Meanwhile, Britain and Sweden have the best road safety record, with about 60 deaths per million.

The new EU-wide safety laws in the pipeline should end the current confusion over what standards apply in different member countries. Crucially, they should help to reduce the carnage on Europe's roads. And that's good news for Britons planning trips abroad, especially to those tourist hotspots with the highest death tolls.

I have experienced at first hand the terrible pain that constituents suffer when loved ones are the innocent victims of road traffic accidents on holiday. Every person killed or injured is one too many. What we are dealing with here is the most basic quality of life issue of all -- the very right to life itself.

If the seatbelt measures approved in Strasbourg earlier this month only save one child's life, then, in my book, that makes the legislation worthwhile.

By Gary Titley, Labour MEP for the North-west