If light cars have no chance in the event of a collision with a truck, what about a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist? This disparity in dimensions and mass is very dangerous, for the lightest ones, whenever they touch or are touched by a monster that weighs up to 40 tons.
EuroNCAP, the European body whose objective is to reduce the number of fatalities from traffic accidents, has increased the safety of light vehicles in recent decades, requiring them to be equipped with deformable structures to protect occupants and with systems designed to help to the drivers. avoid accidents, as well as solutions to minimize collisions with pedestrians and cyclists, as well as reduce damage to the head, torso and limbs in the event of a collision. And the results are encouraging, because if in 2012 26,487 people died on European roads and cities, in 2022 only 20,653 will be lost, which represents a reduction of 22%.
Those responsible for European road safety are now committed to carrying out the same transformation with heavy vehicles, trucks and buses, which represent only 3% of traffic and are responsible for 15% of fatal accidents. EuroNCAP will therefore adapt the same principles and technologies that worked successfully in cars and light commercial vehicles to trucks, to reduce the road fatality rate.
The first phase will be to ensure that solutions already available on the market, but now installed and adapted to heavy vehicles, are tested by independent entities to determine to what extent they are as effective as expected or how they should evolve to be more effective. efficient. As happened with cars, EuroNCAP hopes that consumers, especially in large fleets, will begin to opt for safer vehicles, not only for economic reasons – because accidents end up costing companies money – but also for image reasons.
The objective is to reduce accidents and, at the same time, their severity. EuroNCAP therefore makes it known from now on that it intends to introduce crash tests, but only in 2030. Thus, those responsible for the European Union intend to facilitate the adoption of safety systems in heavy vehicles, reducing costs and efforts for manufacturers. Among the solutions that will be introduced in the first phase, we can count on intelligent speed adaptation, autonomous emergency braking, detection of the most vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists), lane keeping assistant, the detection of pedestrians crossing a perpendicular road. Collision Prevention with Vehicle Removal and Monitoring Cameras.
This year, EuroNCAP will begin developing a classification for trucks based on the evaluation system of the level of safety provided not only to those traveling on board, but also to those traveling on board other vehicles, necessarily lighter, or to pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. And there is no time left, since this organization hopes to publish the first classifications of the safest vehicles from November 2024, to check the effectiveness of their safety systems and driving aids, six years before starting with the crash tests.
Source: Observadora
