Strasbourg, 19/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - Adopting the report by Swedish Social Democrat Ewa Hedkvist Petersen on the Commission Communication on pedestrian safety and the commitment made by the European car industry, the European Parliament feels that the voluntary pledge made by the car industry is a first step towards greater road safety, but further progress is still required. It is concerned about the targets actually being met and also about the timetable and is calling on the Commission to present a framework directive with a detailed and realistic timetable for the intermediate and final objectives and for the control and assessment methodology. It expressed its agreement, however, in terms of equipping all new vehicles with automatic brake locking (ABS) in 2003 and daylight lighting systems in 2002. It also welcomed the ban on producing new cars with rigid kangaroo bars (bull bars), pointing out that buying kangaroo bars separately and fitting them to vehicles cannot be banned under current legislation. It calls on the Commission to put forward a ban.
Europe points out that the Council in November also welcomed the recent efforts made by the European Commission to obtain a voluntary commitment from the industry but in its conclusions it pointed out that this method could not replace legislation and it called on the Commission to draw up directives to supplement and, where necessary, substitute for the voluntary commitment.
The Commission was also invited to unveil a proposal to ban the use of kangaroo bars in the medium term.