The EU Council and the European Parliament reached an ambitious provisional agreement on the Regulation on general vehicle safety and vulnerable road users, in particular on truck and bus cabins, after a long negotiating session, which ended late at night on Monday 25 to Tuesday 26 March. However, they have introduced implementation deadlines of up to 12 years in some cases.
“We made an important step towards improving [road safety] across Europe! New rules [...] agreed between EU institutions have potential to save thousands of lives”, welcomed the Commissioner for the Internal Market and Industry, Elżbieta Bieńkowska.
“The safety of road users was priority for us. We particularly wanted to guarantee safety for those who are unprotected. This Regulation deals in the most direct sense with life and death”, said the rapporteur of the text, Róża Gräfin von Thun und Hohenstein (EPP, Poland), at the end of the agreement.
For the member, one of the big victories is the intelligent speed adaptation, we are told. The compromise found introduces the possibility of disconnecting this device; but, even once the device is disconnected, information on speed limits can still be provided.
Feedback in the event of speed limits being exceeded may be provided via accelerator control or in some other way, as long as the other solutions considered remain “appropriate and effective”. A revision clause has also been introduced to determine whether or not the reference to the disconnection device should be retained.
The direct view of cabins and buses is also a victory for the European Parliament, which has strongly clarified the initial wording proposed by the European Commission. The agreement provides for the reduction of blind spots via direct visibility (which ultimately means a thorough modification of the cabins), in order to better protect so-called vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists in particular).
In addition, all large vehicles will also be equipped with advanced detection features, such as a collision warning and blind spot information system. New vehicle models will have to meet these requirements 42 months after the entry into force of the Regulation and 78 months for existing models. In other words, if the regulation is finalised in September, this would bring its effective implementation on direct vision to September 2025 for new models and September 2028 for all models sold.
Similarly for vehicles produced in limited series (less than 750 vehicles per type per year), pedestrian protection requirements apply to new types 42 months after the date of application and to existing types 12 years after the date of application of the Regulation. The Presidency reportedly indicated that this point went beyond its mandate and that the compromise should be discussed with delegations.
Data collection was limited to accident data, at the express request of Parliament, in order to protect users' private data. In addition, on the issue of tyre monitoring, the Commission has indicated its intention to state that, if the work of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) – which will be responsible for developing in detail the properties of the various devices – does not progress fast enough, it may propose Community legislation in this area.
Another important point: the delegated acts will cover all the new security measures on 2 April in the Industry, Energy and Research Committee (ITRE), which is also a victory for Parliament.
In general, each vehicle will eventually have to be equipped with about 30 safety-related devices by 2022 for new models and 2024 for existing models, including automated emergency breaking, advanced driver distraction warning, emergency lane keeping, reversing detection system, alcohol interlock installation facilitation and emergency stop signal.
The implementation date of the Regulation was set at 30 months after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. Every 5 years, the Commission will have to report on the Regulation. Similarly, an annual report on the UNECE’s work is planned.
The agreement will be presented by the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU to the ambassadors on Friday 29 March. As for Parliament, the provisional agreement should be voted on in April.
An enthusiastic welcome. Eurocities, which represents the EU's capitals and major cities, immediately welcomed the agreement reached, as did the Liaison Committee for the Construction of Automotive Equipment and Parts (CLEPA).
“After game-changing technologies such as seatbelts and airbags, we will now see another big leap with solutions that help avoiding accidents in the first place”, said Sigrid de Vries, CLEPA Secretary General.
Similarly, Transport & Environment, which advocates sustainable and safe transport, welcomed in particular the introduction of the principle of direct vision, recalling that trucks, which represent only 2% of vehicles, cause 15% of road deaths. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)