Brussels, 20/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - The draft directive on the safety of pedestrians and other vulnerable road users in the event of accidents with motor vehicles (see yesterday's Europe, p.12) aims to reduce the number of people killed and injured in road accidents by altering the design of the front of vehicles. Some 800 pedestrians and cyclists are killed in the European Union every year, with around 300,000 more injured in road accidents.
Proposing that manufacturers demonstrate that new vehicles satisfy a series of safety tests introduced in two phases (2005 and 2010), the Commission hopes to ensure that safety is taken into account in the design of vehicles. In 2005, the crash tests outlined in a voluntary agreement signed in July 2001 between ACEA (the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association) and the Commission will be become compulsory. Enhanced pass criteria will be introduced in 2010, for tests developed by the EEVC (European Enhanced Safety Vehicle Committee). The European Commission believes this will significantly reduce the severity of leg injuries to pedestrians who come into contact with the bumpers of motor vehicles travelling at speeds of up to 40 kph, which are typical in an urban environment where most accidents involving pedestrians occur. The Commission believes that up to 2000 fatalities could be prevented by implementing this Directive, line with the EU target of reducing road deaths by 50% by 2010.
The new initiative sets out the pledges made by the car industry, which the Commission sees as taking account of its own priorities, in a legislative framework. European Enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen commented: "I am pleased that the automotive industry has already committed itself to meeting the safety requirements of the draft Directive. I am confident that they will find suitable technical solutions to achieve these."
Disappointment among consumer and road safety associations
European road safety and consumer defence organisations take a very different view, sceptical that the directive will provide sufficient pedestrian protection. In a joint press release, BEUC (the European Consumers' Organisation), the ETSC (the European Transport Safety Council) and ANEC (the European Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation) regret that DG Enterprise only consulted the car industry. Left on the fringes of the consultation process, the three organisations criticise the fact the Commission choose the least effective crash tests. BEUC, ANEC and ETSC note that the EEVC crash tests will be optional at first, whereas the tests in the voluntary code of conduct negotiated by DG Enterprise and the European car industry in 2001 will be compulsory. New research, however, from a transport research laboratory in the UK show that these tests provide 70% less protection against fatal injuries than the EEVC crash tests. The three organisations are far from happy that the EEVC tests might be made compulsory in the second phase since the tests must first be subjected to a feasibility study in 2004. The organisations do not understand why the results of 22 years of R&D funded by the EU, validated in 1993 and in use since 1986 by the European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP, funded by the EU) should be subjected to a feasibility study, when a car currently on the road, the Honda Civic, already meets 80% of the EEVC test requirements. Jim Murray, Director of BEUC, said the proposal was unacceptable because it fails to respect Treaty obligations and goes against public interest. He called upon the Commission to reconsider it.