News - Page 4
In a move designed to boost the safety of cyclists and pedestrians, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has announced a new star rating scheme for lorries that could see vehicles with severe blind spots refused access to the city centre. The proposals state that the most dangerous, zero star-rated ‘off-road’ HGVs will be banned from London’s streets entirely by January 2020, and only HGVs meeting the new London Direct Vision Standard of 3 stars or above will be allowed by 2024. Lorries will […]
The German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt has written to Tesla calling on the company to stop using the ‘misleading’ term ‘Autopilot’ in its advertising. According to Reuters, the letter was sent last month and was followed by a letter from the KBA – The German Federal Motor Transport Authority – to all Tesla owners warning that their cars could not be operated without their ‘constant attention’. Tesla has apparently rejected the request to change the name of its system – the German version of […]
Several new car models launched in recent months come with speed limit information systems fitted as standard, but more needs to be done to encourage installation of full Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) which actively helps prevent the driver from speeding, according to ETSC. Both Ford and Volvo launched full ISA systems last year that automatically limit the speed to the local limit using speed sign recognition and GPS data. Ford’s Galaxy and S-Max and Volvo’s XC90 offer the system as standard. But according to […]
New research by Admiral, a British insurer, based on data from some 300,000 event data recorders (EDRs) has revealed differences in the likelihood of speeding between drivers of different brands of car. BMW and Audi models featured prominently high up on the list of speeders, while at the other end of the spectrum, Skoda cars were found most frequently in the bottom 10%. Several UK insurers offer a discount to drivers who are willing to have an EDR fitted in their car. Drivers can […]
Preliminary data released last month by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show a 7.7 percent increase in motor vehicle traffic deaths in 2015. An estimated 35,200 people died in 2015, up from the 32,675 reported deaths in 2014. The NHTSA estimate shows 9 out of 10 regions within the United States had increased traffic deaths in 2015. The most significant increases came for pedestrians and bicyclists. “As the economy has improved and (fuel) prices have fallen, more Americans are driving more […]
In a referendum held on 23 June, a majority of citizens of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The decision, if carried through with the commencement of the Article 50 procedure of the treaty of the EU, may have far-reaching consequences for the areas of policy covered by European Union law, including transport safety. There is currently a great deal of uncertainty about the kind of relationship the UK will have with the remaining member states, and the legal framework that […]
The latest Indian crash test results from Global NCAP released in May continue to disappoint. All five models were rated as zero star. The Renault Kwid, Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Maruti Suzuki Eeco, Mahindra Scorpio and Hyundai Eon all showed low levels of adult occupant protection. The Renault Kwid was tested in three versions, including one with airbags, but each was rated as zero star for adult safety. Commenting on the latest crash test results, David Ward, Secretary General of Global NCAP said: “The latest […]
India will require new motorcycles to be fitted with headlights that switch on automatically from next year in a bid to improve the visibility and safety of motorcyclists. From April 2017, powered two wheelers will need to automatically switch on the headlight when the ignition switch is turned on. The measure may actually save money once implemented because it effectively removes the need for an on/off switch for the headlights. In Europe, daytime running lights or auto-on headlights are already required on new motorcycles […]
The introduction of telematics systems in the vehicle fleet of Andrew Page, a distribution company with 900 vehicles, reduced speeding by 97% and crashes by 47% as well as reducing maintenance costs and improving fuel economy according to a report in the Financial Times newspaper. Take-up of telematics systems is increasing, with industry experts expecting them to be integral in all fleets within five and seven years’ time. Resistance amongst drivers may also be decreasing, according to the FT. It cited a 2015 survey […]
Ford says 95% of customers are opting for its version of Intelligent Speed Assistance, known as Intelligent Speed Limiter, to be fitted on new Galaxy and S-Max models sold in Europe. The announcement was made at an ETSC event organised together with the Irish Road Safety Authority (RSA) in Dublin in April. Ford says the technology will soon be available on a third model, the Edge four-wheel drive. A new report from the RSA launched at the conference revealed that between 2008 and 2012, […]
EU rules on safety approvals for new cars will need to be revised to include ‘driving tests’ for automated and fully-autonomous vehicles according to a new report from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). ETSC says the EU is far from answering the many research and regulatory questions that must be considered before automated and autonomous vehicles can be put on sale. The report says the priority must be ensuring that the promised safety benefits are delivered in real world driving. One challenge will […]
Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director There was no email version, not even an email address to write to or website to check for updates. None of the articles were tweeted or shared on facebook as Mark Zuckerberg was only ten years old. Google was not yet a verb. Browsing through the first edition of ETSC’s Safety Monitor newsletter this week felt like examining a document from another age. It was published in December 1994, around eighteen months after ETSC was founded ‘in response to the […]
Small city cars classified as heavy quadricycles still have ‘fundamental’ safety problems according to Euro NCAP. The organisation says safety equipment is sparsely fitted to these vehicles and the results show little improvement since the last tests performed in 2014. The crash test results of the selected vehicles – Aixam Crossover GTR, Bajaj Qute, Chatenet CH30 and Microcar M.GO Family – show the standard of protection offered to the driver is still generally very low, leading to serious risks in collisions with other vehicles […]
Vehicle safety innovations are still benefitting too few road users in Europe due to an over-reliance on a voluntary testing programme rather than regulatory standards, according to a new report by ETSC. For almost twenty years, increases in levels of car safety in Europe have been driven mainly by the voluntary Euro NCAP programme which awards the safest cars with a 5-star rating. But according to new data, only around half of new vehicles sold in 2013 had been awarded 5 stars by Euro […]
A new film from ETSC calls on the European Commission to require the fitting of Seatbelt Reminder Systems in all passenger seats in new cars when it reviews vehicle safety regulations later this year. The short video highlights the critical importance of seatbelt wearing to prevent serious injury and death and cites research showing that up to a quarter of rear seat passengers are still failing to belt up. Seatbelt Reminder Systems are already required on drivers’ seats thanks to the last update to […]
Vehicles equipped with automated emergency braking are much less likely to crash into the rear of other vehicles, the US-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has found in a study of the feature’s effectiveness using police-reported crash data. Systems with automatic braking reduce rear-end crashes by about 40 percent on average. The autobrake systems also greatly reduce injury crashes. “The success of front crash prevention represents a big step toward safer roads,” said David Zuby, IIHS chief research officer. “As this technology becomes more […]
Global NCAP, the international network of new car safety assessment programmes, has written to Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault after the company ran adverts in Uruguay for the Megane III misleadingly accompanied by a Euro NCAP five star rating. Renault sells a local version of the Megane III in Latin America that has not been tested by Euro NCAP or Latin NCAP. The company does not currently sell a vehicle in Latin America that has received a five star rating from Latin NCAP. In […]
In response to the dieselgate scandal, the European Commission last month proposed major changes to the oversight of the technical environmental and safety compliance checks new car models must undergo before being approved for sale on the European market. The proposal designed, in the Commission’s words, ‘to correct the flaws in the system’ has three stated aims: Reinforce the independence and quality of testing that allows a car to be placed on the market; Introduce an effective market surveillance system to control the conformity […]
The taxi service Uber has announced it is trialling technology to track the speed, acceleration and braking of its drivers using smartphone sensors. The company describes the process as designed to help verify complaints from passengers of poor driving but says it has broader plans to ensure drivers maintain appropriate speeds and are not distracted. The US-based company announced in November that it would create a permanent global safety advisory board to oversee the safety and personal security issues related to the service. ETSC […]
A survey for the UK road safety campaigners Brake has shown that 63% of drivers would be happy for Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology to help prevent them speeding while driving. The survey found 32% of drivers are willing to have a mandatory ISA system that cannot be overridden, while a further 31% would be interested in an overridable form of the system. Several vehicles already on the market, including the Ford S-Max and Volvo XC-90, already have such a feature. Trials have predicted […]