Canada�s Road Safety Vision
Sunday, February 17, 2008 04:36 AM
by Glen Nicholson
The Canada Safety Council reports that fewer than 5% of Canadians have heard of Canada’s Road Safety Vision 2010, a plan endorsed in 2000 by all Federal and Provincial transport ministers to make Canada’s roads “the safest in the world by 2010.”
Vision 2010 will fail. It targets the usual road safety factors: drinking and driving, seat belts, etc. However, thanks to the immense investment of public resources, there is little room left for improvement in these areas. Programs aimed at changing driving behaviour have largely saturated the audience. For example, seat belts, which save more lives than any other automotive device, are already used by about 95% of Canadians.
Vision 2010 has the ambitious target of reducing reduce road fatalities and injuries by 30% by 2010. This will not happen without an innovative new approach. Fortunately, there is a solution. It is called Electronic Stability Control (“ESC”).
ESC is a computerized system that helps drivers control their vehicles by detecting skids and then applying brakes and/or reducing engine power. ESC could prevent about one third of all crashes. ESC costs manufacturers only $111 per vehicle and could prevent:
• 40% of single vehicle crashes;
• 43% of fatal vehicle crashes; and
• 77-80% of fatal vehicle rollovers.
Canada will not achieve the Vision 2010 target of the “safest roads in the world” because few Canadians know about ESC and no government has taken effective steps to bring it to the attention of the Canadian public.
Other countries have embraced ESC. By simply raising public awareness, the Swedish government boosted voluntary ESC purchases to 93% of new vehicles. Germany and other nordic European nations have similar high rates of ESC use.
The UK, Australia, and New Zealand are also promoting ESC awareness and there are ESC programs in Japan, China, India, and the mid-East. Many countries (including Canada) participated in the CHOOSE ESC! conference in Rome last May, launching an international campaign to reach consumers with ESC information.
The United States seized upon ESC as “the greatest life saving technology since the safety belt.” A new US regulation will start phasing in ESC as a mandatory feature in all new passenger cars, trucks, and SUV’s starting with 55% of new light vehicles next year, increasing that number annually to 75%, 95% and 100%.
Unfortunately, ESC awareness in Canada is very low. Transport Canada found that only 1% of Canadians named ESC as a safety device. Even though ESC is available in over 200 vehicle models from all auto makers, only about 5% of vehicles on Canadian roads have ESC. Many Canadian owners of ESC are not even aware they have it, what it is, or how it works.
Transport Canada has ESC information on its website, but has not formally announced an ESC law. It is expected that ESC will not be mandated in Canada until 2012. When Liberal Opposition Transport Critic, Joe Volpe realized how slowly the government was moving, he introduced a private member’s bill on ESC. Ironically, Quebec already has the world’s first ESC law; however, it only applies to carriers of dangerous goods.
Viviane Reding of the European Commission declared, "Time is short. Each new car that is sold without ESC is a lost opportunity to save lives and reduce suffering." These non-ESC vehicles will be dangerous hazards on our roads for the next 15-25 years (if they are not eliminated by crashing).
Canada could achieve the Vision 2010 target if all Canadians had ESC. Consumer’s Union says you should not buy a vehicle without ESC. You can help. Inform yourself about ESC. Make sure your next vehicle has ESC. Tell your friends about ESC.
For more information, including videos showing how ESC works, look up “Electronic Stability Control” in Wikipedia at this link:
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Posted by: MoneKate on February 17 2008 8:20 AM