Today’s crash avoidance technologies are capable of preventing many types of vehicle collision before they happen. For example, worldwide studies have confirmed the effectiveness of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) in reducing fatalities in single vehicle crashes by as much as 40%.
Launched to coincide with the publication of the latest World Health Organisation Global Status Report on Road Safety, #STOPTHECRASH is a partnership led by Global NCAP, campaigning for the widest availability of these life-saving technologies.
In support of the UN’s Global Goals and the Decade of Action for Road Safety, #STOPTHECRASH will focus on promoting the key safety systems with proven real world effectiveness. These are:
– Electronic Stability Control (ESC)
– Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)
– Anti-Lock Brakes for Motorcycles (ABS)
The Partnership will also highlight the importance of tyre safety particularly, the importance of tyre pressure and adequate tread depth.
In its new Report the World Health Organisation (WHO) warns that global road deaths have plateaued at 1.25 million per year and that more action is urgently needed to meet the UN’s new target to halve this figure by 2020. The WHO Report also includes for the first time, country by country data on vehicle safety including the crash avoidance system ESC.
Considered to be the most significant advance in vehicle safety since the introduction of the seat belt, ESC is one of the most important crash avoidance systems currently available. In the European Union, where ESC became a mandatory requirement in all new cars from 1 November 2014, it is estimated that since 1995 at least 188,500 crashes involving injury have been avoided and more than 6,100 lives saved by ESC. In the UnitedStates, where ESC became mandatory from 2012, it is estimated that already more than 6000 lives have been saved.
ESC is now mandatory in Australia, Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and the USA and will soon also be in Argentina. However, Global NCAP believes that the current ESC global fitment rate of just over 60% of new passenger cars and light duty vehicles is too low and wants this to be raised to 100% by 2020.
Global NCAP is recommending that all UN Member States, especially those that have significant automobile production, mandate ESC in all new models by 2018 and in all automobiles in production by the end of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety in 2020.
David Ward, Secretary General of Global NCAP said: “Today safety technologies can prevent crashes altogether rather than just protecting people when one occurs. Our new partnership supports the UN’s Global Goals and the ambitious target to halve road deaths by 2020. That is why we want all new cars to be equipped with Electronic Stability Control and are strongly promoting automatic braking and anti-lock brakes in motorcycles. These life-saving technologies will help reduce the toll of more than 3,000 people killed every day in crashes on the world’s roads.”
Thomas Burkhardt, ADAC Vice President Technical Services: “We are happy to support such an important initiative. Right after seatbelts and airbags, ESC for passenger cars is life saver number two in the world. Together with ABS for motorcycles it will save millions of lives worldwide. We believe that top safety standards for cars and motorcycles are required around the globe. Road safety is a human right for everyone!”
Jan Carlson, President and CEO of Autoliv said: “We are committed to the Stop the Crash Partnership. It aligns perfectly with our company’s vision of Saving More Lives and mission of delivering the safety systems for the future car. By working together we will be able to reduce fatalities and injuries further.”
Dr. Dirk Hoheisel, member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH said: “For Bosch, safety comes first. For many years, we have been working to realize the vision of accident- and injury-free driving. Early on, we laid the foundation stone for road traffic with fewer and fewer accidents when we developed ABS and ESC. Today, our portfolio goes much further: our comprehensive predictive pedestrian protection system keeps not only drivers and passengers from harm, but also vulnerable road users. Our customized solutions support the worldwide efforts of automakers and governments to make life-saving technologies standard equipment in every vehicle. Our systems are not just becoming more and more powerful, but more and more cost-effective as well. We will continue to pursue this course.”
Frank Jourdan, Member of the Executive Board of Continental AG and President of the Chassis & Safety Division said: “We have been pursuing our long-term strategy ‘Vision Zero’ for many years. With innovations and by continuously refining and improving our components and systems, we are playing a leading part in the drive to improve road safety. We see ‘Vision Zero’ as comprising three successive stages: of paramount importance is the avoidance of any traffic fatalities, then reducing the number of injuries to zero. Are there no more accidents at all, we have fulfilled our ‘Vision Zero’. Since seatbelts, ESC, tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and ABS for commercial vehicles became mandatory, the total number of road traffic fatalities, injuries and accidents has declined significantly. That said, the annual toll of more than 1.2 million people killed on the world’s roads every year is still shockingly high and not acceptable. We must make a concerted effort to reduce these numbers.”
Nikolai Setzer, Member of the Executive Board of Continental AG and President of the Tire Division said: “Tires are the sole point of contact between the vehicle and the road. All forces transmitted to the road are put down via a footprint no bigger than the size of a postcard. In a critical situation, it is the tire that determines whether the vehicle can stop in time – or whether it stays safely on course through a corner. This is why we want to inform as many drivers as possible, all over the world, about the safety benefits of using high-tech tires inflated to the correct pressure and with adequate tread depth. From now on, we will be positioning the technology-oriented Continental premium tire brand even more closely around the long-term goal ‘Vision Zero’, an area in which Continental as a company stands to benefit from synergies among its broad portfolio of safety technologies.”
Hiroyuki Wakabayashi, Senior Executive Director of DENSO said: “Safety is one of our top priorities. We are engaged in this partnership to work towards an accident-free society where drivers, passengers, pedestrians and all stakeholders including friends and families can have peace of mind. We are committed to develop and deliver safety technologies of sophisticated sensors and driver-friendly HMI (Human Machine Interface), to all people, all over the world.”
Peter Shaw, Chief Executive of Thatcham Research said: “As a worldwide centre of excellence in testing and evaluating crash avoidance and autonomous driving technology, Thatcham Research is proud to be a founding partner of the Stop the Crash campaign. Active vehicle safety systems such as ESC and AEB can prevent thousands of potential crashes across the world. By highlighting these technologies to consumers and policy makers, Stop the Crash will help accelerate their adoption and ultimately save lives.”
Dr. Franz Kleiner, CEO of ZF TRW said: “‘Stop the Crash is another significant step in the effort to reduce and eventually eliminate fatalities and serious accidents from global roadways. Working collaboratively with our partners and the global NCAP organization presents a great opportunity to help promote potentially life-saving safety technologies and raise the awareness of how safety systems can help vehicle occupants, pedestrians and other road users to have a safer journey.”
