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Update of General Safety Regulation will increase road safety significantly

A proposal for the long awaited review of the General Safety Regulation (GSR) by the European Commission is expected tomorrow in the context of the third mobility package. The review will make mandatory a number of measures to update minimum vehicle safety standards to account for progress in active and passive safety systems on the market.

 

Sigrid de Vries, Secretary General of CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, underlines the need for swift application of the update: “Automotive suppliers strive for an ambitious update of the General Safety Regulation, covering all proposed measures to increase vehicle safety. This is a decisive chance for the EU to increase safety and to reduce accidents, injuries and fatalities on the road. CLEPA urges the members of the European Parliament and the governments of the member states to swiftly debate and adopt the proposal.”

 

Vehicle safety standards were last updated in the EU almost a decade ago. Meanwhile, active and passive safety systems have been enriched with many technically and economically mature innovations for all vehicle categories.

 

The swift adoption of ambitious safety standards, which have been expected for several years, will also help the European automotive industry to maintain their global lead in safety technology and contribute to generate growth, jobs and investment in the European Union. Making driver assistance technologies standard, will furthermore help prepare for the prompt introduction of automated driving.

 

Safety measures include for example autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance or tyre pressure monitoring for more categories of vehicles. A total of 24 measures have been proposed to the European Commission on technical level for decision in the legislative procedure.

 

The Commission reported that in 2016 more than 25.000 people lost their lives on EU roads and a further 135.000 were seriously harmed – figures that have not been reduced significantly since 2013. Other than human toll, road accidents cost society an estimated €100 billion each year. According to an analysis of the European Transport Safety Council, the number of road deaths will now need to fall by 11.5% per year in order to meet the EU target by 2020.

 

See the European Commission proposal here

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