25,300 people lost their lives on European roads in 2017 and a further 135,000 were seriously injured, with nearly 40% of these on the streets of our cities and urban areas. Many of these incidents involve cyclists and pedestrians and are avoidable.

The European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee voted today to agree on a broad range of new safety features for cars, vans, buses and trucks. These features include ‘direct vision’ for trucks, Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) and Advanced Emergency Braking (AEB), among several others. It is expected that together these safety features will save thousands of lives each year.

Direct vision standards for trucks and buses will reduce blind-spots and enable drivers to better see nearby cyclists and pedestrians on the road, saving an estimated 550 lives per year. ISA will assist drivers in keeping to safe speeds on the roads, reducing collisions in the EU by 30% and deaths by 20%. Finally, AEB will help avoid crashes or mitigate the severity of an accident when they happen.

EUROCITIES urges the European institutions to finalise agreement on the file before the end of the European Parliament’s mandate.

Anna Lisa Boni, Secretary General of EUROCITIES said:

“Every death of a cyclist or a pedestrian on our city streets is one death too many. Yet thousands lose their lives or are seriously injured each year in accidents that are avoidable. The vote in the European Parliament today has shown that we can take bold steps together to reduce this unnecessary loss of life, with advanced new vehicle safety features and improved vision for drivers”