THE EU HAS said a provisional agreement has been reached with member states that will see new road safety technologies become mandatory on vehicles sold in Europe from 2022 onwards.

The new measures will see cars, for example, required to have features such as intelligent speed assistance, lane keeping technology and advanced emergency braking.

EU Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska said: “Every year, 25,000 people lose their lives on our roads. The vast majority of these accidents are caused by human error. We can and must act to change this.

With the new advanced safety features that will become mandatory, we can have the same kind of impact as when the safety belts were first introduced. Many of the new features already exist, in particular in high–end vehicles. Now we raise the safety level across the board, and pave the way for connected and automated mobility of the future.

Last year, 148 people were killed on Irish roads, the RSA said.

Recent road safety measures introduced by the government here include new zero tolerance drink driving laws which sees an automatic ban for drivers on their first offence in this regard.

Other measures the EU wants to introduce include the reduction of dangerous blind spots on trucks and buses, and technology that warns the driver in case of drowsiness or distraction. 

List of the proposed safety features EU EU

The European Commission said it hopes these measures will help to save over 25,000 lives and prevent at least 140,000 serious injuries by 2038. 

The new proposals were warmly welcomed by the European Transport Safety Council.

Its executive director Antonio Avenoso said: “There have only been a handful of moments in the last fifty years which could be described as big leaps forward for road safety in Europe.  The mandatory introduction of the seat belt was one, and the first EU minimum crash safety standards, agreed in 1998 was another.

If last night’s agreement is given the formal green light, it will represent another of those moments, preventing 25,000 deaths within 15 years of coming into force.

The political agreement reached is now subject to formal approval by the European Parliament and Council, with a view to the introduction of the rules in 2022.