Skip to main content

IAM RoadSmart: Auto emergency breaking could save hundreds of lives

Private and fleet car buyers could save hundreds of lives a year by insisting the cars they purchase are fitted with auto emergency braking (AEB), according to UK motoring organisation IAM RoadSmart and coalition partners. The coalition, which comprises car and road design experts, said AEB systems (which automatically apply the vehicle’s brakes if pedestrians, cyclists or other vehicles are detected ahead) could save 1, 100 lives and 122, 860 causalities over the next ten years. In addition, the insuran
September 28, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Private and fleet car buyers could save hundreds of lives a year by insisting the cars they purchase are fitted with auto emergency braking (AEB), according to UK motoring organisation IAM RoadSmart and coalition partners.


The coalition, which comprises car and road design experts, said AEB systems (which automatically apply the vehicle’s brakes if pedestrians, cyclists or other vehicles are detected ahead) could save 1, 100 lives and 122, 860 causalities over the next ten years. In addition, the insurance industry-funded Thatcham Research calculates that 308 fewer deaths and serious injuries by 2025 and can save society £138 million if buyers insist on AEB.

Peter Shaw, CEO of Thatcham Research said: “There’s an urgent need to change the consumer and fleet mind-set around car safety. Especially when AEB can cost as little as £200. Safety should be a deal-breaker, not a nice to have. If it doesn't have AEB, it shouldn't be a sale.”

Related Content

  • Inrix informs FHWA’s data improvements
    December 19, 2017
    Refinements in the data available from the US Federal Highway Administration will improve road management across America. David Crawford reports. In August 2017, the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued the first results from an upgraded version of its National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS). Developed to identify the locations and times of high congestion affecting traffic flows along America’s 259,000km (161,000 mile) national highway system, this is a key resource for sta
  • Roadside monitoring used to target non-compliant trucks
    March 9, 2016
    The UK’s DVSA is utilising existing technology to identify non-compliant commercial vehicles and target repeat offenders while avoiding law-abiding companies. Enforcing the compliance of commercial vehicles (goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes and vehicles with eight or more passenger seats) on the UK’s roads is the responsibility of the DVSA (the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency). The Department for Transport created the executive agency about 18 months ago by merging the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) and t
  • Multi-tasking at the wheel a potentially fatal myth, finds IAM
    November 20, 2015
    Expert psychologists have concluded that multi-tasking whilst driving is a myth – and the most dangerous of those driving multi-tasks is texting and talking on a mobile phone, according to a new report produced by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). The research focuses on the dangers involved when drivers try and engage in more than one task, indicating this can have a ‘detrimental’ effect on the quality and accuracy of driving performance. The find
  • Transport integration separates rural idyll from remote isolation
    June 13, 2017
    David Crawford investigates the operation of Total Transport in some of Europe’s more rural areas. Total Transport is a concept that is gaining traction in Europe as a means of making it easier for people without access to a car and living in rural and remote communities, to travel to work, the shops, schools and hospitals. It involves maximising vehicle availability and integrating scheduled services with other transport services (including taxis) commissioned or contracted by more than one local governmen