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The number of people who die in road accidents each year, in the EU alone, adds up to the population of a small town (42,500 deaths in 2007 according to the German Federal Statistical Office). That is why authorities across Europe want to see further improvements to road safety. In its 2001 White Paper on Transport, the European Commission set a target of halving the number of road fatalities by 2010. However, by 2007 the number of deaths across the entire EU had only fallen 22 percent. It is quite clear that without driver assistance systems we will not even come close to the target set by the White Paper of reducing the number traffic deaths by half, even after 2010. Driver mistakes were found to be the cause of over 90 percent of all accidents involving personal injuries in Germany in 2008 (German Federal Statistical Office). In other words, if the drivers involved had been supported by an 'assistant', the accidents (some of which had serious consequences) might have been prevented. Surely, that’s reason enough for you to take a closer look at the issue. Studies suggest this could save over 10,000 lives each year in the USA alone, which is why experts regard ESC as the most important safety technology to be introduced since the seat belt. Since February 2009, ESC has also been included in car safety testing by Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme), which tests and rates the safety of vehicles by using simulated accident scenarios. From 2010 new vehicle models can only achieve the highest, five-star rating if they are fitted with ESC as standard. From this it follows that driver assistance systems posses a large potential for reducing the numbers of both road fatalities and severely injured persons in road traffic. Road traffic fatalities in Europe
European Road Safety Evolution 1990 - 2010
Traffic fatalities vs. Safety Technologies in Germany
Most Frequent Accident Situations in Germany
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