Safety bodies urge fleets to adopt automatic braking technology
With a new UK government having been voted in little more than a week ago, independent road safety organisations are already driving forward a new agenda for the Conservative Party, Fleet World reports.
MPs are being urged to encourage fleets to invest only in cars with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), following research that shows just how effective such safety technology is.
A study by Euro NCAP and ANCAP, the independent safety bodies for Europe and Australasia, found that AEB is one of the more promising safety technologies on the market and is becoming increasingly common in modern passenger cars. But the technology needs widespread adoption in order to produce maximum benefits.
According to the research, real-world data shows that the technology reduces rear-end crashes by 38%.
“Clearly, at this level of effectiveness, low-speed AEB is potentially a hugely important active safety technology and widespread fitment through the vehicle fleet should be encouraged in the interest of improved vehicle safety – a key recommendation since 2014,” commented Andrew Miller, president of Euro NCAP and chief technical officer of Thatcham Research.
He added: “We would like to see the new government take a lead in the UK – just as Swedish and Australian governments have done – and mandate only AEB-equipped cars across its own fleet and champion the take-up of AEB across the all-important fleet market.”
