You're listening to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on new EU measures to increase the general safety vehicles and the protection of road users.

To reduce the death toll on European roads, the Commission wants all new cars sold in the internal market to be equipped with advanced safety measures.

The new regulation is part of the third Europe on the Move package,

and is expected to contribute to the EU's objective

halving the number of road fatalities between 2020 and 2030.

So listen up. This concerns us all.

Although they are the safest in the world, European roads still claim too many lives,

over 25,000 in 2017 alone.

To increase road safety, the EU traditionally follows a safe system approach in which a degree of human error is considered to be inevitable,

but crashes are considered preventable. How?

Well, making vehicles safer is one aspect, alongside improving road infrastructure and road users' behaviour.

So what is the Commission proposing to make vehicles safer? Let's have a look.

In May 2018, the Commission presented

a proposal for a regulation on type approval requirements for motor vehicles and their trailers

as regards to general safety and the protection of vehicle occupants and vulnerable road users.

It would introduce a number of advanced safety measures which passenger cars, vans, buses and trucks would need to have as standard equipment in order to be sold on the EU's internal market, replacing three current type approval regulations.

So what would change? Let's have a look.

The Commission is proposing that in a few years' time, all new vehicles introduced on the market must have several advanced safety features, such as a tire pressure monitoring system, which is already standard in cars, an intelligent speed assistance system, driver distraction recognition and alcohol interlock devices.

On top of this, passenger cars and light commercial vehicles would also need to be equipped with additional safety features

such as advanced emergency braking, a lane keeping system, accident data recorder and an enlarged head impact protection zone to minimize injuries in case of an accident.

The new proposal would also introduce special requirements for hydrogen powered vehicles,

in addition to those applicable to general vehicle categories.

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