The safety of vulnerable road users is an important objective of European transportation policy and the automotive industry. The aim is to continue the successful reduction in the number of pedestrians killed and injured in road accidents over recent decades. It is hoped to achieve a reduction in the number of fatalities by 30% and of seriously injured pedestrians by 17% by 2010 across Europe. Different approaches are being discussed to achieve this aim. Besides better road safety instruction, adapted traffic-route planning and improvements to rescue-services, it is imperative that the car itself becomes a focus of attention. While the EEVC prefers a component testing procedure, the automotive industry expects higher potentials in a consequent further development of active systems. For the covering abstract see ITRD E825082.
Abstract