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

  • New safety barrier solutions protect road users
    February 21, 2012
    Novel safety barrier solutions are coming to market, writes Mike Woof The safety barrier market is a focus for innovative products designed to meet a range of different applications. The diverse range of vehicle types on the road poses numerous technical challenges to barrier manufacturers. At the same time, different applications such as motorcycle safety, end treatments, bridge barriers and roadside obstacle protection require novel solutions. Although motorcycles account for only a small proportion of ve
    Read More
  • Current technologies could eliminate 90 per cent of traffic accidents
    April 27, 2012
    Nearly every traffic accident caused by driver error – up to 90 per cent of all crashes – could be eliminated if existing intelligent transportation technologies were implemented in vehicles and on roads, say experts at IEEE, the world's largest technical professional association. These include electronics and computing technologies such as in-vehicle machine vision and sensors to detect drowsy drivers, lane departure warning systems, and vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications for s
    Read More
  • Boost for cycling in Europe
    March 22, 2024
    Bicycle journeys in France increased 7% during the week and by 6% in urban use compared to 2022, according to a report by Vélos & Territoires.
    Read More
  • ETSC sets European road safety agenda
    November 22, 2013
    The European Transport Safety Commission (ETSC) is hopeful that coming elections will result in a political leadership keen to address European road safety. The ETSC has identified speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, infrastructure safety and the safety of vulnerable road users as priority areas for action during the mandate of the next European Parliament. Antonio Avenoso, ETSC executive director said, "Action in all of those areas carries significant potential to prevent deaths and
    Read More

Highlighted Content