Europe’s new safety rules to cut crashes

A new plan will help boost road safety in Europe, with the rules governing cars and trucks being revised. The move comes following pressure from campaigning groups pushing vehicle manufacturers to equip their products with new safety systems. This move is intended to boost overall vehicle safety and cut casualties and road deaths across the EU. The draft policy document for the move has outlined a series of initiatives to be adopted this year. This will includes changes to the current vehicle safety regulat
May 26, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
A new plan will help boost road safety in Europe, with the rules governing cars and trucks being revised. The move comes following pressure from campaigning groups pushing vehicle manufacturers to equip their products with new safety systems. This move is intended to boost overall vehicle safety and cut casualties and road deaths across the EU.


The draft policy document for the move has outlined a series of initiatives to be adopted this year. This will includes changes to the current vehicle safety regulations, which have been in place since 2009.

Road safety gains in the EU have been sluggish and have not kept pace with the aim to halve road deaths in the period from 2010 to 2020. It is hoped that this new plan will bring road safety improvements back on track. Although the 25,500 road deaths in the EU during 2016 were 2% fewer than that of the previous year, far greater safety improvements need to be achieved.

One technical solution thought to offer major benefits will be introduction of cameras and detection equipment to heavy trucks in a bid to minimise blind spots. These systems would reduce the risks for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Other safety systems being suggested include intelligent speed assistance and autonomous emergency braking.

The plans could also see car owners having to pay charges based on the CO2 emissions the vehicles produce.

Related Content

  • UK achieves road safety success
    December 10, 2015
    The UK has the second safest road network in the world, beaten only by Sweden according to the latest traffic data analysis from the Department for Transport (DfT). Fatalities from road crashes account for 28.3 deaths/million of population in the UK, compared with 28 fatalities/million of population in Sweden according to the DfT data. It should be noted too that the UK has a larger population and a far higher population density, as well as 35.6 million registered vehicles (an increase of 41% since 1994) an
    Read More
  • Europe is considering tough new targets for tailpipe emissions
    June 25, 2012
    Moves are afoot within the European Commission to develop tighter CO2 emissions standards for vans. This move forms part of a wider plan to cut emissions from the road transport sector. Under the terms of the plan so far, the EC hopes to introduce a 2020 goal to limit average CO2 emissions from new cars to 95grammes/km. A separate draft includes plans to enforce a provisional goal to limit emissions from new vans to 147grammes/km by the same date.
    Read More
  • Variations in European road safety improvements
    February 24, 2012
    Better transport safety is in the best interests of everyone. Accidents, injuries and fatalities take a heavy economic and personal toll.
    Read More
  • Machine visibility in focus from EU Commission
    November 9, 2015
    All round visibility from the operator’s seat of a construction machine is a topic in focus at the EU Commission. This has been a topic of concern for the construction machinery sector ever since the EU Commission released a warning relating to the standard. This standard has provisions covering visibility requirements for earth-moving machinery. A position paper is intended to help clarify the situation.
    Read More

Highlighted Content