Bid to boost car safety

Date: 03/02/2000

By Renée Cordes

CAR manufacturers in the Union would be forced to change the design of their vehicles to ensure pedestrians and cyclists are better protected in case of accidents under plans being drawn up by the Commission.

Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio told MEPs last week that she intended to come forward with concrete proposals soon.

The move has been welcomed by transport safety campaigners, who have long been clamouring for EU action to reduce the death and injury toll from car accidents.

The European Transport Safety Council argues that 2,100 lives a year would be saved and more than 21,000 serious injuries prevented if member states introduced legislation on safer car design. It has, for example, called for manufacturers to be banned from placing stiff or sharp parts directly under bonnets.

Car manufacturers in the Union would be forced to change the design of their vehicles to ensure pedestrians and cyclists are better protected in case of accidents under plans being drawn up by the Commission.