WRITTEN QUESTION P-2493/00

by Mark Watts (PSE) to the Commission

(24 July 2000)

Subject: Industry proposals on pedestrian protection design in vehicles

Will the Commission confirm that, despite the car industry's active participation as observers in the 22 year-old European Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Committee (EEVC)

research and development programme, it has recently received proposals from the European Car Industry Association for safer car fronts for pedestrians and cyclists which, at technical level, severely weaken the levels of protection which would be provided by the four EEVC tests and could lead to more hazardous car design, in the opinion of independent experts?

Joint answer to Written Questions P-2131/00, P-2133/00, P-2155/00, P-2156/00, P-2157/00, P-2158/00, E-2239/00, E-2385/00, E-2410/00, E-2462/00, P-2482/00, P-2493/00, P-2503/00, P-2579/00, P-2583/00, E-2610/00 and P-2760/00 given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(8 September 2000)

The Commission shares the views of the Parliament on the promotion of road safety in the Community and the concerns presented in a series of questions from Honourable Members. The adoption of measures to increase transport safety and reduce the number of victims is a primary objective of Commission policy.

The Commission is convinced that improved road safety is the shared responsibility of everyone, that is to say, the Community, the national, regional and local authorities of the Member States, the motor vehicle industry, and also road users themselves. The measures to be taken include the improvement of infrastructures, road users' and drivers' education, traffic codes and technical controls, as well as active and passive safety provisions on motor vehicles.

As indicated by some Honourable Members, the Commission in its communication(1) of 17 March 2000 entitled Priorities in EU road safety progress report and ranking of actions, identified safer car fronts for pedestrians and cyclists by means of type approval and possible in-use legislation as one of its short to medium term road safety priorities.

The Commission is well aware of the risks for pedestrians and cyclists in road accidents. The subject of pedestrian protection has been in intensive discussion in the last months with the interested parties. All concerned, including vehicle manufacturers, have been consulted and have had the occasion to present their proposals on the best way to approach this issue. These discussions have also been tackling aspects of technical requirements for safer front design in the case of a collision.

The question of designing cars to reduce injuries in case of accidents at low speed with pedestrians is technically complicated. It is a new approach which has not been tried anywhere in the world. Much work has been done regarding the development of a performance standard

by European academic institutions that specialise in passive safety of vehicles. Europe is in the forefront in this field. The measures taken have to be based on well-established scientific evaluation processes. This work takes time and is not yet finished. During the discussions the manufacturers have presented a draft commitment concerning the technical requirements.

As a number of technical issues are unresolved, the Commission has asked its Joint research centre to contribute to the evaluations. The Commission is willing to continue the full consultation of all interested parties and to inform the Parliament of the progress of these discussions early in autumn. It will not compromise with the aim of reducing injuries, but it is necessary to find the best technical solution reflecting the state of the art of current knowledge.

(1) COM(2000) 125 final.