Skip to main content

UN vehicle regulations ‘could prevent deaths and injuries in Brazil’

A new research report from the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has revealed that 34,000 Brazilian lives could be saved and 350,000 serious injuries prevented by 2030, if UN vehicle safety regulations were adopted and car manufacturers sought to achieve higher ratings in the Latin NCAP crash test programme. Published on the eve of the second High Level Conference on Road Safety in Brazil, the independent study, which was commissioned by Global NCAP, highlights the gap between the regulated vehicl
November 17, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
A new research report from the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (491 TRL) has revealed that 34,000 Brazilian lives could be saved and 350,000 serious injuries prevented by 2030, if UN vehicle safety regulations were adopted and car manufacturers sought to achieve higher ratings in the Latin NCAP crash test programme.

Published on the eve of the second High Level Conference on Road Safety in Brazil, the independent study, which was commissioned by Global NCAP, highlights the gap between the regulated vehicle safety standards in the industrialised regions and Brazil. TRL’s findings closely align with the policy recommendations set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in their recent Global Status Report on Road Safety.

The new study concludes that Brazil “has started to introduce vehicle safety legislation and Latin NCAP is raising awareness about the importance of car safety and creating consumer based competition to motivate improvements”. However, “to help create an automotive market in Brazil that provides adequate levels of safety, further development of the minimum regulatory standards is required.”

Brazil has clearly made road safety a priority, and supporting much needed legislation will enable them to reach their road safety goals even faster. The report identifies clear regulatory priorities for Brazil including “the need to introduce a side impact crashworthiness test and to mandate for Electronic Stability Control (ESC) to be fitted to every new passenger car.”

The report also sets out a timetable for the adoption of these priorities which “are internationally proven to be cost effective countermeasures that save lives” and that there are clearly “established UN regulations available to apply now.”

Related Content

  • August 19, 2022
    Safety first in the Big Apple
    For a variety of reasons, seniors are particularly vulnerable to traffic violence – but better road design can help. Adam Hill examines New York City’s new plan to keep older people from becoming collision statistics
  • November 18, 2014
    TRL's DigiCar driving simulator becomes fully automated
    As the path to acceptance of automated vehicles on the UK’s roads moves forward, so does TRL’s role in developing robust research tools to provide the necessary evidence as to the human response to automation and its general acceptance by the driving population. Behind the scenes, TRL experts have been working on developing the software required to enable the transition of DigiCar to run as an automated vehicle as and when required. As a result, TRL’s full mission driving simulator, DigiCar, has devel
  • March 18, 2016
    US automakers commit to making AEB standard on new vehicles
    Twenty US automakers, representing more than 90 per cent of the US auto market have committed to automatic emergency braking (AEB) a standard feature on virtually all new cars no later than 2022. Making the announcement, the US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) said that the commitment means that this important safety technology will be available to more consumers more quickly than would be possible
  • June 6, 2019
    Continental: US road deaths are ‘public health crisis’
    The 40,000 deaths on US roads last year amount to a ‘public health crisis’, according to Continental North America’s president Jeff Klei. Giving the opening keynote address at ITS America’s 28th Annual Meeting & Expo, Klei said: “If you could save 40,000 lives a year, would you? We believe this situation needs to be treated with the same priority as other health crises in this country.” But help is at hand, he said. The concept of ‘Vision Zero’, where there are no fatalities from crashes, “seems a lon