In the night from 25 to 26 of March, representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council of Ministers have reached a provisional agreement on the General Safety Regulation. Although the process isn’t finished yet, we have come a step closer to safer vehicles.

This means that they agreed on the new standards for cars and trucks, which include measures such as a mandatory overridable intelligent speed assistance, automatic emergency breaking systems and cabins for lorries that have new levels for improved direct vision. The new regulation should be implemented in 2022.

The now reached agreement is provisional and needs to be voted upon by the European Parliament and the EU member states. Because we are now in the final stage of the current mandate for the European Parliament this might take quite some time and is not to be expected before the summer (there will be elections for a new European Parliament in may 2019).

FEMA General Secretary Dolf Willigers said: “The General Safety Regulation makes cars and trucks safer for all so-called vulnerable road users, including motorcyclists. For this reason FEMA has supported this regulation from the beginning and we are happy with this agreement. We congratulate all the involved parties with this result and are looking forward to the final votes.”