Skip to main content

Improving vehicle safety in Latin America

Stop the Crash hosted its Latin America Launch recently in Santiago de Chile. This is bringing the global partnership to the region to promote the latest in life saving crash avoidance technologies. Following the global launch of Stop the Crash at the 2nd Global High Level Conference on Road Safety in Brasilia in November 2015, the partnership has been holding a series of events across the globe. These are promoting the importance of active safety systems. The Latin American launch specifically focused on t
June 15, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Stop the Crash hosted its Latin America Launch recently in Santiago de Chile. This is bringing the global partnership to the region to promote the latest in life saving crash avoidance technologies. Following the global launch of Stop the Crash at the 2nd Global High Level Conference on Road Safety in Brasilia in November 2015, the partnership has been holding a series of events across the globe. These are promoting the importance of active safety systems. The Latin American launch specifically focused on the implementation of Stop the Crash technologies in the region. It took place with support from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Chilean Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications. The event featured demonstrations of electronic stability control (ESC), autonomous emergency braking (AEB), anti-lock braking system (ABS) for motorcycles, and tyre safety.

The campaign recently hit a significant milestone with the adoption of a United Nations (UN) Resolution that specifically invited member states to adopt active safety systems as standard. Following the vehicle demonstrations at Stop the Crash, Global New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) in partnership with ECLAC hosted a Regional High Level Road Safety Seminar on Vehicle Safety. This featured representatives from ECLAC, Automobile Club of Chile (ACCHI), and the FIA Foundation. David Ward, Global NCAP Secretary General and Stop the Crash Partnership Chairman said, “Technologies such as ESC have the potential to save thousands of lives every year in Latin America. Government need to implement UN Vehicle Safety Regulations and get these technologies into new cars sold in the region as soon as possible.”

There is major concern that auto manufacturers are still selling models in Latin America that do not feature the latest safety systems fitted to vehicles sold in the US or Europe. Some firms also persist in selling old models in Latin America that have long since been removed from sale in the US or Europe, and which have poor crash protection performance.

Related Content

  • IRF continues road safety focus
    October 26, 2012
    The IRF is currently working on a series of programmes intended to help boost road safety and reduce the casualty rate on the world’s road network. On November 1st-2nd the IRF is organising a conference in India focussing on road safety in urban and rural roads. This follows immediately after the IRF’s road safety group of experts meeting on October 31st in Delhi. Starting from the 2nd December, the IRF is also planning a Safer Roads by Design event in Miami in the US. This last, the Road Safety Across Six
  • China's Roads Convention focuses on sustainability
    February 9, 2012
    IRF joins with key Chinese transport authorities to lead the way in efforts to make sustainable rural mobility, transport and access a reality for millions throughout the world.
  • Europe’s road safety picture slanted wrong way?
    May 24, 2016
    The European Commission’s latest figures for road safety reveal some cause for concern across the EU. While the EU has the world’s safest roads overall, the road fatality rate has slipped during 2015. And this is for the second consecutive year also as EU road deaths in 2014 also showed an increase over 2013. By comparison, there were decreases in the European road death rate of 8% in 2012 and 2013.
  • Road safety move for young drivers
    April 11, 2024
    A new road safety focus for young drivers will save lives