At the start of Road Safety Week 2025, Brake is reiterating its call on the Government for life-saving technology to be mandated for all new vehicles in the UK.
This year, the theme of Road Safety Week (16-22 November) is Safe Vehicles Save Lives, raising awareness of how safe vehicles can make roads safer by being roadworthy, preventing crashes and protecting people in the event of a crash.
From automated driver assistance systems that help drivers keep within speed limits and brake in an emergency, to essential checks that drivers can do before every journey, Brake is helping people understand how today’s technology can make every journey safer.
A recent study by Brake found that 63% of drivers don’t understand what all the safety features in their car do. In addition, 18% of drivers are uncertain what safety features their car has, and 35% admit to having switched off at least one safety feature.
As part of the Road Safety Week campaign, Brake is reiterating its call to the Government for life-saving technology to be mandated for all new vehicles sold in the UK, in line with the Vehicle General Safety Regulations that were introduced in Europe in 2022.
Under these regulations, a number of important vehicle safety features became mandatory for all new vehicles sold in the European Union (EU), including advanced emergency braking, intelligent speed assistance and attention warning in case of driver drowsiness.
Road safety experts have estimated that adopting the Vehicle General Safety Regulation in Britain could prevent more than 1,700 deaths and 15,000 serious injuries over 16 years, and save up to £7 billion in health costs, if the full package of measures were to be fully implemented.
Although Britain played a significant role in the development of the General Safety Regulation when it was still part of the EU, these safety technologies have still not been made mandatory for new vehicles sold in Britain.
Thousands participate in Road Safety Week
More than 3,000 schools, organisations, communities and individuals have signed up to take part, together reaching more than 10 million people with important road safety messages using free resources provided by Brake.
This includes factsheets on safe vehicles and guidance on how to carry out essential safety checks on a car, van or bike.
There are also activities for schools to get involved by teaching road safety to children and young people, events and information for employers, as well as social media images and more for everyone to share.
Hundreds of people will be taking part in Big Tea Brake events at schools, work and in the community to remember road victims and fundraise for Brake.
Ross Moorlock, chief executive at Brake, said: “Road Safety Week is a fantastic opportunity for us all to come together in our communities, organisations, and simply as people who share the road space, to take action for change to make our roads safer.
“This year, we have put vehicle safety at the very heart of Road Safety Week, because we know that whoever we are, and however we travel, the safety of the vehicles we use is critical to road safety. When we look back at the introduction of seatbelts and airbags, for example, the impact they have had on reducing road deaths and injuries is staggering.
“This Road Safety Week, I call on everyone who drives to find out more about the safety features in your vehicle, and I urge you to use them, to help keep yourself and the people you share the road with as safe as possible. We have the technology to save lives on our roads, we need to use it! Let’s make every journey as safe as possible.”
I’m intrigued to know what safety features have been ‘switched-off’ by apparently 35% of drivers…and how they actually did this and most importantly…why?
As an aside, I recently had to hire a ‘modern’ car which had all sorts of messages coming at me on the dashboard such as ‘keep both hands on the wheel’ and ‘vehicle in front has move off’ etc. etc. all very clever and well-intentioned no doubt, but I don’t see how it it could have compromised mine or anyone else’s driving to any significant degree, as has been suggested.
Hugh Jones, South Wirral
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Years ago Dr Antony Claire on the BBC R4 programme ‘All In the Mind’ featured research done by a university psychology department showed that the more so called safety features there were in vehicles the less drivers paid attention to their driving. This also showed there is a strong preponderance for drivers to rely on so called safety features so that they do not have to apply so much brain to the job in hand. It is estimated at over 90%, some say nearer 98%, of crashes involve human error. There are a range of competencies over and above the standard or Basic Driving Test and it is well proven that there is a direct relationship between the level of competencies and the reduction in vulnerability to crashes. Remember, that until the day that fully autonomous vehicles rule the world the human is still considered responsible for what happens in his or her vehicle and , in a court of law, will almost certainly be considered ultimately responsible for his or her safety on the road. Having people believe that they can abrogate their driving safety to devices, whatever the technology, is sending them down the wrong mental track.
Nigel Don ALBRIGHT, TAUNTON
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