EU works on #SaferVehicles for safer citizens

The Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection has voted in favour of the inter-institutional agreement on a General Safety Regulation, which introduces certain mandatory vehicle safety measures that will reduce the number of fatalities and injuries on the roads, safe lives and at the same time boost the global innovation and competitiveness edge of the European car industry.

The new mandatory safety features will include a warning of driver drowsiness and distraction (e.g. smartphone use while driving), intelligent speed assistance, and a data recorder in case of an accident (‘black box’) for cars, vans, trucks and buses, lane-keeping assistance in case of emergency, advanced emergency braking, and crash-test improved safety belts for cars and vans, specific requirements to improve the direct vision of bus and truck drivers and to reduce blind spots, and systems at the front and side of the vehicle to detect and warn of vulnerable road users,

Enshrining the principle of technological neutrality as well as full respect of privacy of the users were ALDE priorities when designing the new rules on car safety.

MEP Dita Charanzová, shadow rapporteur on this file, said: “The EU has made an important step in reducing road accident fatalities. New technologies available now allow for better and more efficient protection of both vehicle passengers and other road users such as pedestrians or cyclists. The regulation is ambitious, future proof, technologically neutral and also fully respects data privacy. It also clarifies that new safety features should be designed in a way to be convenient to drivers in order to reach their maximum efficiency.”

This proposal was presented as part of the third ‘Europe on the move’ package, a final set of measures following the 2016 strategy for low-emission mobility.