- competent authority
means the authority responsible for the registration of vehicles or driving licences, for the initiation of the follow-up proceedings or the investigation of road-safety-related traffic offences listed in Article 2(1) or for the enforcement of relevant sanctions, in accordance with the law of its Member State.
- crossing one or more solid lines
means changing lanes with the vehicle illegally crossing at least one solid line, as defined in the law of the Member State of the offence;
- dangerous overtaking
means overtaking another vehicle or another road user in a way that infringes the applicable rules on overtaking, as defined in the law of the Member State of the offence;
- dangerous parking or stopping
means parking or stopping the vehicle in a way that infringes the applicable rules on parking or stopping in a dangerous way, as defined in the law of the Member State of the offence;
- end user
means any person who is not the holder or the owner of the vehicle, but another person indicated in the vehicle register of the Member State of registration, who is allowed to use that vehicle or be responsible for its day-to-day operation, in particular under a long-term lease or rental contract or as part of a vehicle fleet available to employees;
- failing to keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front
means not maintaining sufficient distance from the vehicle in front, as defined in the law of the Member State of the offence;
- failing to respect the rules at a railway level-crossing
means failing to stop at a railway level-crossing or acting in a dangerous way at a railway level-crossing, as defined in the law of the Member State of the offence;
- failing to respect the rules on vehicle-access restrictions
means not respecting clearly and visibly demarcated access regulations set for all or certain vehicle categories for the purposes of road safety, such as pedestrian and school zones, and cycling lanes, as defined in the law of the Member State of the offence;
- follow-up document
means any decision or any other document that the competent authority of the Member State of the offence issues after the traffic offence notice in connection to that notice or to the road-safety-related traffic offence in question, until the stage of appeal before a competent authority with the power to adopt legally binding decisions;
- hit-and-run
means a situation in which the driver drives away after causing an accident or traffic collision in order to avoid facing the consequences of the accident or traffic collision, as defined in the law of the Member State of the offence;
- Member State of residence
means any Member State that can be assumed to a reasonable degree of certainty to be the place of normal residence of the person concerned;
- national contact point
means the authorities designated for the purposes of the automated exchange of incoming requests and outgoing responses of vehicle registration data, the incoming and outgoing requests for mutual assistance to identify the person concerned, the incoming and outgoing requests for mutual assistance to send the traffic offence notice or the follow-up documents to the person concerned and the incoming and outgoing requests and responses for mutual assistance in enforcement of final administrative decisions on road traffic fines imposed for road-safety-related traffic offences;’
- person concerned
means a person who is identified in accordance with the law of the Member State of the offence as personally liable for a road-safety-related traffic offence listed in Article 2(1) or the holder, owner end user or driver of the vehicle with which a road-safety-related traffic offence listed in Article 2(1) was committed, even if not identified as personally liable in accordance with the national law of the Member State of the offence;
- traffic offence notice
means the first decision or any other document issued by the competent authority of the Member State of the offence to the person concerned;
- use of a forbidden lane
means illegally using part of an already existing permanent or temporary road section, as defined in the law of the Member State of the offence;’
- using an overloaded vehicle
means using a vehicle that does not comply with the requirements set for its maximum authorised weight or maximum authorised axle weight, as laid down in the national laws, regulations or administrative provisions transposing Council Directive 96/53/EC, or in the law of the Member State of the offence for vehicles or operations for which no such requirements are set in that Directive;
- vehicle
means any means of transport subject to registration according to the law of the Member State of registration or Member State of the offence which is normally used for carrying persons or goods by road, including vehicle combinations or trailers;’
- wrong-way driving
means driving a vehicle against the designated direction of traffic, as defined in the law of the Member State of the offence;