Motoring world's leading personalities back eSafety

Publication date: 11 September 2009

Motoring Personalities gathered to take part in the eSafety Challenge, an annual event that promotes and highlights the life-saving potential of eSafety technologies. The event was opened by a number of distinguished guests, including Jean Todt, President of eSafetyAware and Paul Clark MP, UK Minister for Transport.

Each of the demonstrated systems has the potential to save lives by addressing the root cause of some of the most common accidents, and could lead to major reductions in road deaths and casualties. Estimates for  Electronic Stability Control (ESC) alone show that in Europe it could save  4,000 lives and prevent more than 100,000 injuries if fitted to every car.

Prior to the launch of the Challenge eSafetyAware released research on the take up of eSafety technologies, highlighting a critical lack of awareness amongst the general population and showing that despite being involved in seven out of 10 car purchase and placing safety as their number one priority when buying a car, women are 30 per cent less likely to know about the existence of eSafety systems than men. Encouragingly eSafetyAware's study showed that if consumers were made aware of the technologies, they were willing to pay to have them fitted, and the overall fittings could potentially double.

Jean Todt, President of eSafetyAware, said:
Today s eSafety Challenge shows that eSafety has the backing of policy makers, major automotive stakeholders, and some of the best drivers in the world. Just as with a seat belt today, one day it will be unthinkable to buy a car without eSafety on board. Our goal is to save lives by speeding up the process of getting these systems into the market as soon as possible.

Enrico Gelpi, President of ACI, said:
"Vehicles manufactures must make an extra effort in promoting and diffusing eSafety technologies. Safety systems should be at disposal of every driver and be offered with every model and not, as is the case today, only with the most expensive cars. Dealerships must also make an effort as not all car sellers stress eSafety technologies, both for marketing reasons and because they are not trained enough to do so."

Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, Member of the European Parliament, said:
Accidents on the road claim lives every year. eSafety can help reduce this unnecessary waste of human life, we must do everything possible to increase awareness about the latest safety technologies. If the world s best drivers choose eSafety we should ensure that every driver in Europe does the same.

During the course of the event, each of the following eSafety technology was demonstrated:

• ESC, which stabilises the car in a skid;
  
• lane support systems, which adjusts steering if the car drifts out of its lane;
  
• speed alert, which warns the driver if he or she is speeding;
  
• blind spot monitoring, which warns the driver if a vehicle is in his blind spot;
  
• warning and emergency braking systems, which act to slow the car automatically in the case of an impending impact

Note to editors
eSafety refers to vehicle technologies that can assist the driver in case of an emergency situation and by providing vital information and warnings to help avoid the situation occurring in the first place. The systems have an impact on the car occupants safety by helping the driver make the right decisions and remain in control of the car by informing, advising and alerting the driver about dangerous situations.

The eSafety Challenge is an event co-funded by the European Commission, the FIA Foundation and eSafetyAware! (comprising a wide range of  automotive stakeholders) and supported by EuroNCAP.

The Challenge focuses on innovative vehicle safety technologies and the potential lives to be saved on the roads through increased deployment of these technologies.

An important obstacle for deployment is the lack of awareness among both policymakers and end users, which is affecting policy support, user expectations and readiness for change.

The key eSafety applications promoted by the eSafety Challenge are:

• Electronic Stability Control
• Blind Spot Monitoring
• Lane Support Systems
• Speed Alert
• Warning and Emergency Braking Systems

For more information please visit: www.esafetychallenge.eu.