The European Commission has announced a major package of road safety measures. These include new targets, in a bid to cut road deaths and serious injuries in half by 2030. New car safety standards will make life-saving technologies such as Automated Emergency Braking and overridable Intelligent Speed Assistance a standard feature on all new vehicles. At present these features are only available as an option on some models.
The Pan-European policing body TISPOL has welcomed this package of measures, which are intended to help reduce the 25,000 deaths that occur on EU roads annually.
According to TISPOL, the package of new vehicle safety standards could, by themselves, prevent more than 2000 deaths every year by 2032, 10 years after the measures come into force. Ruth Purdie, General Secretary of TISPOL, said: “We applaud the positive, bold action taken by the European Commission. Taken together, these announcements could represent the biggest step forward in road safety in Europe since the introduction of the seat belt. Road traffic injury is still the number one killer of young people across the continent so these essential measures cannot come soon enough.”
Antonio Avenoso of the European Transport Safety Council, said, “It is absolutely crucial that EU Member States and the European Parliament give their backing to the plans and that they do not give in to pressure from car manufacturers, who are already attempting to weaken parts of the vehicle safety proposal.”
The EU published four road safety measures today as part of its so-called third mobility package. They include an overall outline of the road safety strategy for the decade to
2030; new vehicle safety standards; updated rules on road infrastructure safety management and a strategy for automated driving.
