During the EP plenary session (13-16 November 2017) in Strasbourg, MEPs debate on a draft resolution to make driver assistance systems mandatory in new cars, in order to prevent crashes, in particular those involving cyclists and pedestrians. Statements by Markus FERBER (EPP, DE), Violeta BULC, Member of the EC in charge of Transport, and Wim van de CAMP (EPP, NL), and illustrative pictures of self-driving car demo.

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

BULC, Violeta (SI, EC)

FERBER, Markus (EPP, DE)

van de CAMP, Wim (EPP, NL)

car safety (T)

Saving lives; boosting car safety in the EU: extracts from the debate and illustrative pictures

SOUNDBITE (German), Markus FERBER (EPP, DE), We are moving towards driverless cars but as an interim step these systems could help to save lives, can warn drivers if there&rsquo;s a problem, give them enough time to change the way they drive and save lives. Indeed the systems in some cases can take action automatically.

SOUNDBITE (German), Markus FERBER (EPP, DE), The car prize should not shoot up as a result of such systems being used because that would put potential purchases off, that&rsquo;s important in terms of consumer protection in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Violeta BULC, Member of the EC in charge of Transport, Speeding is one of the main killers in our roads. This is why we are also looking into a ground-breaking technologies such as intelligent speed assistance. Another major challenges is how to effectively deal with drivers too distracted to drive safely by themselves.

SOUNDBITE (English), Violeta BULC, Member of the EC in charge of Transport, We must have seen and heard terrible stories of trucks running over children at road crossings and heating the cyclist when making a turn. It is time that we recognise the urgent need for a comprehensive approach to protect the most vulnerable road users against current truck designs such as blind spots. A first step is to add special detection systems for heavy duty vehicles that will know when pedestrians and cyclist are in the vehicles&rsquo; blind spot zone.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Wim van de CAMP (EPP, NL), There is one point in particular that we should address: using your phone, your laptop, communicating when you are driving, it&rsquo;s just not OK. The number of accidents caused by this is exploding and I really do hope that the EC will also adopt measures against that. That would be highly innovative because we cannot accept to have so many victims.