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A new approach to safety on the track and on the road
As the governing body of motor sport and the representative of 100 million motoring consumers worldwide, safety is an absolute priority for the FIA. Motor sport is inherently dangerous, accidents are expected to happen, but drivers and spectators justifiably expect a very high level of protection.
FIA safety policy is based on constantly improving safety standards on the track founded on the principle that although accidents are inevitable, no deaths or serious injuries are acceptable. In Formula One the FIA's approach to safety has resulted in a reduction in fatalities and serious injuries per accident of more than 90% since the early 1970s.
In the 1960's one in every eight Formula One event resulted in a fatality or serious injury. By 1992 a constant effort to promote F1 safety resulted in the fatality rate falling to less than one in 250 accidents. In 1994, after 11 years without a single fatality in Grand Prix events, two fatalities occurred during a single Grand Prix weekend. One of the tragic accidents involved triple World Champion Ayrton Senna. The FIA immediately took wide-ranging steps to improve safety, including setting up new regulations for car construction and circuit design, and initiated a research and development programme into improved standards for the future. It soon became clear that the only acceptable safety objective should be zero fatalities and serious injuries.
The FIA believes that adopting what we have called "Formula Zero" when addressing road safety would help to reduce the 43,000 deaths and 1.6 million injuries which occur on Europe's roads every year Formula Zero involves an entirely new way of looking at road safety, concentrating on how the whole of the road transport system can operate safely.
In Sweden in October 1997, the Riksdag introduced "Vision Zero" as a long-term goal for road safety. The Swedish approach emphasises that it is deaths and serious injuries which have to be eliminated, not that all accidents have to be avoided. The ethical basis for this approach recognises that mistakes which are made on Sweden's roads should not lead to loss of life or serious injury. The road transport system must be designed so that people's mistakes do not necessarily have disastrous consequences.
According to "Vision Zero" system designers bear the ultimate responsibility for the structure and function of the road transport system, whilst road users have a duty to follow road traffic regulations, showing due care and consideration.
The FIA's Formula zero echoes the aspirations of Sweden's pioneering approach to road safety management by:
- Targeting the three essential variables - the driver, the car and the road - in one integrated strategy;
- Combining improved driver education with consumer pressure in encouraging accelerated improvements to car safety design as well as the mobilisation of "user" pressure to encourage improvements to road infrastructure layout and design;
- Harnessing the intergovernmental infrastructure of the European Union to set clear and genuinely pan-European safety priorities co-ordinated centrally but delivered nationally.
In implementing the Formula Zero approach the FIA has identified key areas for policy and campaign action.
The Driver: For the driver the FIA believes that a more coordinated approach to safety campaigning and to improving driver behaviour should be adopted on a pan-European basis.
The Car: In improving the safety performance of car design the FIA believes in a strategy which combines consumer information and fiscal incentives to encourage the scrappage of older cars and the purchase of newer, safer models. When the various stakeholders in the automotive sector work together to promote safety, the results can be impressive. The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) has in three years led to dramatic improvements in car design above and beyond what legislation alone has achieved.
The Road: Addressing the quality and safety design of Europe's roads infrastructure is a vital aspect of road safety policy. In the Formula Zero approach improved layout and safety designs must be combined with pedestrian friendly vehicle design if we are to reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries.
The primary responsibility in developing and implementing effective road safety strategies must rest with governments.
Citizens of the EU now pay approximately 230 billion euros each year in motoring taxes. Yet only a tiny proportion of this revenue is re-invested in road safety activity. The EU road safety budget is 8 million euros per annum. Using the European Commission's own costing methodology, referred to in their latest road safety communication as the "1 million Euro principle", the total annual road safety budget is equal to the lives of 8 European citizens.
This is entirely unacceptable. The FIA believes that road safety budgets should be increased on an automatic annual above inflation "escalator" for safety campaigns led by national governments and for genuinely pan-European initiatives by the European Commission. Motorists have the right to expect such an investment in their safety in return for the taxes they pay.
In Hong Kong, rarely a day passes without any serious automobile accident on its roads. Despite recent drop in relevant figures, the question needs to be asked: when shall we attempt a break-through towards "F-0" too?
Source: FIA Automotive |
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This work is licenced under a Creative
Commons Licence |
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