AUTONEWS

In Europe, trucks are a minority, but they cause 15% of fatal accidents

If light cars have no chance in the event of a collision with a truck, then what about a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist. This disparity in dimensions and mass is very dangerous, for the lightest, whenever they touch or are touched by a monster that weighs up to 40 tons.

EuroNCAP, the European body whose aim is to reduce the number of fatalities caused by road accidents, has been increasing the safety of light vehicles in recent decades, requiring them to be equipped with deformable structures to protect the occupants and with systems designed to helping drivers avoid accidents, as well as solutions to minimize pedestrians and cyclists being run over, as well as reducing damage to the head, torso and limbs in the event of a collision. And the results are encouraging, because if 26,487 people died on European roads and cities in 2012, in 2022 only 20,653 were lost, which represents a reduction of 22%.

Those responsible for European road safety are now committed to carrying out the same transformation with heavy vehicles, trucks and buses, which represent just 3% of traffic and are responsible for 15% of fatal accidents. EuroNCAP will, therefore, adapt to trucks the same principles and technologies that worked satisfactorily in cars and light commercial vehicles, to reduce the road mortality rate.

The first phase will involve ensuring that independent entities test the solutions already available on the market, but now installed and adapted to heavy vehicles, to determine to what extent they prove to be as effective as expected, or how they need to evolve to be more efficient. As happened in cars, EuroNCAP hopes that consumers, especially in large fleets, will start to opt for safer vehicles, not only for economic reasons — because accidents end up costing companies money — but also for image reasons.

The aim is to reduce accidents and, at the same time, their severity. Hence, EuroNCAP has already made it known that it intends to introduce crash tests, but only in 2030. Thus, those responsible for the European Union intend to smooth the adoption of safety systems in heavy vehicles, reducing the costs and effort of manufacturers. Among the solutions to be introduced in the first phase, we can count on Intelligent Speed Adaptation, Autonomous Emergency Braking, Detection of the most Vulnerable Road Users (pedestrians and cyclists), Lane Keeping Assistant, Detection of Pedestrians Crossing a Perpendicular Road , Prevention of Collisions with Vehicle Removal and Monitoring Cameras.

This year, EuroNCAP will begin to draw up a ranking for trucks based on the system for evaluating the level of safety provided not only to those riding on board, but also to those traveling on board other vehicles, which are necessarily lighter, or to pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. And time is not in abundance, as this organization hopes to publish the first rankings of the safest vehicles from November 2024, to confirm the effectiveness of its safety systems and driver aids, six years before starting with crashes. -tests.

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