Commission to produce eSafety action plan to cut road accidents
EU Enterprise commissioner Erkki Liikanen has said that the European Commission is working with the automotive industry to produce an eSafety action plan to improve road safety through the use of intelligent technologies. Speaking at seminar on 'ITS in road safety within the framework of eEurope' at Auto World Brussels on 21 November, Commissioner Liikanen said that the new scheme will aim to continue the work of the eEurope2002 action plan in improving road safety. The eEurope2002 plan has set two targets. The first is to reduce risk using intelligent safety systems - the equipment of all new vehicles sold in Europe from 2002 onwards with more efficient 'active safety systems'. The second is to provide access for all citizens on the move to an emergency 112 number, multilingual support and full emergency services by 2002. The eSafety action plan, to be proposed by the Commission shortly, will aim to encourage the introduction of 'active safety' measures by industry. It will create a market forum to support the introduction of new road safety technologies at a European level and to assess their impact. The plan will also aim to encourage European collaboration with countries outside the EU in research and development and in drawing up internationally agreed standards. The Commission's White Paper on European transport policy presented in October this year aims to achieve a 50 per cent reduction of road fatalities in the EU by 2010. Mr Liikanen said in order to achieve this target, 'special focus now needs to be put on new measures and systems based on information and communication technologies that are offering new 'intelligent' solutions to improve road safety and reduce the number of accidents on our roads.' He explained that systems such as 'advanced driver assistant systems' (ADAS) and 'intelligent active safety' can cut accidents, almost 95 per cent of which are due wholly or partly to human error, by helping the driver to control the car and become aware of risks through 'intelligent' sensors and processors. ADAS systems take the technology a stage further by monitoring not just the driver and the vehicle, but information about the vehicle's environment and potential hazards outside the car. In case of danger, the ADAS system will either warn the driver or be triggered into action itself. 'The objective,' Mr Liikanen explained, 'is to assist in accident avoidance; not only to reduce the impact of accidents but first of all to reduce the total number of accidents.' An eSafety Congress in Lyon, France, from 16 to 18 September 2002 aims to take stock of e-safety issues, including research and deployment.