WRITTEN QUESTION E-2462/00 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Cutting the number of deaths on the roads through rapid action making it compulsory to improve the safety of the front of cars.
Date: 2000-07-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU industrial policy, European standard, motor car, pedestrian, product design, proposal (EU), road safety, two-wheeled vehicle

13.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/151

(2001/C 81 E/191)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2462/00

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(24 July 2000)

Subject: Cutting the number of deaths on the roads through rapid action making it compulsory to improve

the safety of the front of cars

Is the Commission aware that the development and rapid spread of private cars has a far-reaching
1.
impact on the safety of more vulnerable road users, in particular cyclists and pedestrians, of whom 9 300
are killed every year in the Member States of the European Union and many more are injured?

Can the Commission confirm that it is expected that making the fronts of cars safer can prevent

2.
2 000 deaths per annum and 19 000 personal injuries?

3.
Can the Commission also confirm that the member of the Commission responsible for industrial
policy promised to submit, in Spring 2000, a new draft proposal for protecting pedestrians by making the
fronts of cars safer and that on 27 June the Council asked the Commission, as a matter of urgency, to
produce a legislative proposal on these lines as soon as possible?

In view of the delays which have now occurred in preparing this document, can the Commission
4.
indicate when the proposed text will be considered by Parliament, and is the Commission prepared to
choose the earliest possible date for this to prevent people being the unnecessary victims of delay?

(2001/C 81 E/192)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2482/00

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Legislation on safer car fronts for pedestrians and cyclists

(13 July 2000)

In March, the Commission(cid:146)s road safety communication stated its intention to introduce EU legislation on
safer car fronts for pedestrians and cyclists as one of six cost-effective priority actions on road safety
following a 22-year EU-funded research and development programme to develop four tests. This measure
topped the priority list of the European Parliament in its last road safety opinion. On 26 June, the Council
of Ministers supported this initiative and called upon the Commission to introduce the legislative proposals
set out therein as quickly as possible.

Given that every month of delay means a missed opportunity to save 175 lives across the EU every month,
and 140 Greeks per year, will the Commissioner now bring forward, without further delay, a proposal to
introduce the four tests which are needed to provide a high level of protection in car-to-pedestrian
crashes?

(2001/C 81 E/193)

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(cid:146)s active participation as observers in the
22 year-old European Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Committee (EEVC) research and development pro-