Regulation (EC) 661/2009 of the European Parliament and Council, amended by Commission Regulations (EU) number 407/2011, 523/2012 and 2015/166 (the ‘General Safety Regulation’) governs the type approval requirements for the general safety of motor vehicles, their trailers and systems, components and separate technical units. The Regulation lists the UN Regulations that apply on a compulsory basis and the vehicle types to which each regulation applies. To date, a number of amendments have been made to the General Safety Regulation including mandating: *Electrical safety *Electronic Stability Control (ESC) systems on cars, vans, trucks and buses * Fitment of tyre pressure monitoring systems on cars * Lane Departure Warning Systems (LDWS) and Advanced Emergency Braking Systems (AEBS) for trucks and buses * Gear shift indicators on cars *Rolling resistance limits, noise emission limits and wet grip performance of tyres * Driver seat-belt reminder on cars * ISOFIX child restraint anchorages on cars * Cab strength crash protection of vans and trucks *A large number of UN Regulations replacing repealed Directives In addition, Regulation (EC) 78/2009 on the type approval of motor vehicles with regard to the protection of pedestrians and other vulnerable road users (the ‘Pedestrian Safety Regulation’) updated Directive 2003/102/EC with modified and more advanced provisions, adapted to the technical progress. This includes passive safety requirements to mitigate the risk of critical injury in case of a collision between a vehicle and a person. The General Safety Regulation requires that the Commission report to the European Parliament every three years with proposals for amendment to the Regulation or other relevant Community legislation regarding the inclusion of further new safety features. Based on the CARS 2020 communication and the Policy Orientations on Road Safety 2011-2020, a proposed amendment should meet the following criteria: *Road safety should follow an integrated approach regarding the driver, infrastructure and vehicles *New measures for improved vehicle safety should be enforceable, compatible with infrastructure, and encourage the development of and progress on innovative active and passive safety measures and promote new technologies * Specific attention should be given to vulnerable road users as well as vehicle occupants presenting an intrinsic fragility due to their age (i.e. young children and the elderly) *Particular attention should be given to the assessment of technologies that exploit the interactions between the driver, the vehicle and the driving environment, such as Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) This study concerns an overview feasibility and cost-benefit assessment of a wide range of candidate measures for inclusion in the General Safety Regulation. Commission monitoring reports to the European Parliament are also required, as appropriate, by the Pedestrian Safety Regulation. This monitoring may lead to the adoption of implementing measures for an upper leg form to bonnet leading edge test and an adult head form to windscreen test. Data from these tests have been acquired by Technical Services and Type-Approval Authorities for monitoring purposes only. The primary objective of this project was to provide advice on the likely benefit and feasibility of a range of possible measures to improve vehicle safety. The study involved stakeholders at several stages to ensure that relevant measures were being considered, and that manufacturers, suppliers and other organisations had an opportunity to provide information on the feasibility and costs of state-of-the-art technologies. The outputs are indicative cost-benefits provided in order to differentiate those measures that are very likely, moderately likely or very unlikely to provide a benefit consistent with the cost of implementation. This information will enable prioritisation of possible future legislation or amendments thereto relevant to vehicle safety and to the relevant EU type-approval requirements. This study also aimed to provide advice on the necessity and feasibility of including the complimentary upper leg form to bonnet leading edge and adult head form to windscreen tests in pedestrian safety legislation, until recently carried out by vehicle manufacturers only with a view to monitor the situation in the field. (Author/publisher)
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