Vehicle safety / protection of vulnerable road users

EESC opinion: Vehicle safety / protection of vulnerable road users

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on type-approval requirements for motor vehicles and their trailers, and systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles, as regards their general safety and the protection of vehicle occupants and vulnerable road users, amending Regulation (EU) 2018/… and repealing Regulations (EC) No 78/2009, (EC) No 79/2009 and (EC) No 661/2009

Key points

The EESC: 

  • welcomes the Commission's aim of making a new range of advanced safety measures mandatory for all vehicles as standard equipment for road vehicles and also endorses the requirement for trucks and buses to be equipped with a detection and warning system for vulnerable road users;
  • wonders why the Commission does not make having an alcohol interlock a requirement. It recommends that accident data recorders be required for lorries, trucks and buses and regrets that security systems which are stricter than those required by European legislation, and which manufacturers voluntarily install, are often confined to high-end models.

The Commission should require European standards to be adapted to technological developments within shorter deadlines, even to trucks and buses.

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