The Australian Government has mandated life-saving vehicle safety technology – Advanced Emergency Braking (AEB) systems – for new passenger and light-goods vehicles.
Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister Kevin Hogan said this vital step is part of the Government’s commitment to improving road safety through strong investment and national leadership to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries occurring on our roads.
“Vehicle technology has an important role to play in reducing road trauma, which is why we have introduced new standards that mean AEB systems must be installed in all new light vehicles,” Mr Hogan said.
“There will be a progressive roll out of the new standards, which will start to apply from March 2023 – giving manufacturers the time needed to effectively make the transition.
“AEB systems detect likely forward collisions with another vehicle or pedestrian, provide the driver with a warning and if the driver does not respond, apply the brakes automatically.
“To date, many systems have been unable to detect pedestrians. These new national road vehicle standards would require light vehicle AEB systems to detect likely forward collisions with both vehicles and pedestrians to help keep some of our most vulnerable road users safe as well.”
Implementing these new national road vehicle standards is estimated to save 581 lives, and prevent 20,433 serious and 73,340 minor injuries over 35 years.
As well as saving lives, the new standards are expected to return a net benefit of nearly $1.09 billion to the Australian economy, after considering all implementation costs.
AEB systems capable of detecting collisions with other vehicles must be installed from 1 March 2023 for all new models of vehicles, and 1 March 2025 for all other new vehicles.
AEB systems capable of detecting collisions with other vehicles and pedestrians must be installed from 1 August 2024 for all new models of vehicles, and 1 August 2026 for all other new vehicles.
The final Regulation Impact Statement, new Australian Design Rules and Explanatory Statements are available at www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2021L01518 and www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2021L01519.
