Commission presents eSafety Communication

Publication date: 29 September 2003

The Commission presented today its eSafety Communication (COM(2003) 542 final), laying down a set of  measures to develop safer and more intelligent vehicles and enabling their rapid introduction into the market. The goal is halving the number of road deaths in Europe by 2010. The general framework for Community actions regarding road safety had been presented in the recently adopted Road Safety Action Programme (COM(2003) 311 final).

com2003_542_esafety_communication_.pdf (79 KB)

com2003_311_road_safety_action_programme.pdf (450 KB)

The proposed actions fall into three categories:
(I) Promoting Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems,
(II) Adapting the Regulatory and Standardisation Provisions and
(III) Removing the Societal and Business Obstacles.

Background:
The Commission has recently taken a number of important actions in the area of road safety, including the adoption of the Road Safety Action Programme. However, 1,300,000 road accidents with 40,000 fatalities and 1,700,000 injuries per year in Europe, are still too many. Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) that are already widely in use in vehicles are seen as an important set of tools to tackle the road safety challenge.

Recognising this potential, the Commission together with the automotive industry and other stakeholders established in 2002 the eSafety Working Group consisting of some 40 experts. In November 2002, the Working Group published its Final Report, containing 28 recommendations. The Communication presented today brings forward the measures the Commission intends to take to promote the development, deployment and use of integrated safety systems, called Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems.

esafety_wg_final_report_112002.pdf (185 KB)