Search icon

Motors

27th Mar 2019

Speed-limiting technology to be mandatory in cars sold in EU after 2022

Conor Heneghan

truck motorway

“Every year, 25,000 people lose their lives on our roads. The vast majority of these accidents are caused by human error. We can and must act to change this.”

New safety technologies, including speed-limiting technology, will be mandatory in cars sold in the European Union after 2022, according to a provisional agreement reached on Monday.

The agreement on revised General Safety Regulation is designed to protect passengers, pedestrians and cyclists and aims to reduce the number of accidents, pave the way towards increasingly connected and automated mobility, and boost the global innovation and competitiveness edge of the European car industry.

The new mandatory safety features include (see full list here):

  • For cars, vans, trucks and buses: warning of driver drowsiness and distraction (e.g. smartphone use while driving), intelligent speed assistance*, reversing safety with camera or sensors, and data recorder in case of an accident (‘black box’).
  • For cars and vans: lane-keeping assistance, advanced emergency braking, and crash-test improved safety belts.
  • For trucks and buses: specific requirements to improve the direct vision of bus and truck drivers and to remove blind spots, and systems at the front and side of the vehicle to detect and warn of vulnerable road users, especially when making turns.

*Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) uses a speed sign-recognition video camera and/or GPS-linked speed limit data to advise drivers of the current speed limit; the most advanced systems can automatically limit the speed of the vehicle as needed (though the driver is still able to override the system).

The European Commission expects that the proposed measures – which originated from a public consultation in 2017 and a review of General Safety Regulation and Pedestrian Safety Regulation in May 2018 – will help save over 25,000 lives and avoid at least 140,000 serious injuries by 2038.

According to the Road Safety Authority, 141 fatal collisions resulted in 148 fatalities on Irish roads in 2018.

The measures will also contribute to the EU’s long-term goal of moving close to zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2050 (“Vision Zero”).

Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said: “Every year, 25,000 people lose their lives on our roads. The vast majority of these accidents are caused by human error. We can and must act to change this.

“With the new advanced safety features that will become mandatory, we can have the same kind of impact as when the safety belts were first introduced,” Bieńkowska added.

“Many of the new features already exist, in particular in high–end vehicles. Now we raise the safety level across the board and pave the way for connected and automated mobility of the future.”

The political agreement reached by the European Parliament, Council and Commission is now subject to formal approval by the European Parliament and Council with a view to becoming mandatory from 2022, with the exception of direct vision for trucks and buses and enlarged head impact zone on cars and vans, which will follow later due to the necessary structural design changes.

Topics:

Home News,Motors