‘Vision Zero’ gains traction
Continental AG drives initiative to curb accidents
ROAD safety, or rather the lack thereof, is a huge problem especially in South Africa and in particular in the Eastern Cape. Fresh in our minds is the horrific weekend recently, when scores were killed in accidents in the Eastern Cape.
World of Wheels last weekend completed a 2 000km trip and was shocked at the lack of visible policing and the number of unroadworthy vehicles on the road.
In four days’ travelling we saw only three traffic officials during the daylight hours and none at night.
Cars and trucks, clearly unroadworthy, were everywhere.
No stop, tail or front main beam lights were a common sight. Speeding and reckless driving was another common occurrence.
However, we take our hats off to those in the motor industry doing their utmost to curb the global road death toll. One of these is Continental AG. The global company, which has a manufacturing plant in Port Elizabeth, has adopted an innovative and comprehensive approach to automotive safety with the aim of reducing and ultimately eliminating vehicle accidents, injuries and fatalities.
Dubbed “Vision Zero”, the pioneering initiative is driven by the Continental Group’s leading status as one of the world’s largest tyre and automotive safety systems manufacturers.
“We see ‘Vision Zero’ as comprising three successive stages. Of paramount importance is the avoidance of any traffic fatalities; then reducing the number of injuries to zero. “Once there are no more accidents at all, we have fulfilled our ‘Vision Zero’,” Frank Jourdan, member of the executive board of Continental AG and president of the chassis and safety division, said.
“Since seatbelts, ESC, tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and AEBS for commercial vehicles became mandatory in Europe, the total number of road traffic fatalities, injuries and accidents has declined significantly.
“That said, the annual toll of more than 1.2 million people killed on the world’s roads every year is still shockingly high and not acceptable. We must make a concerted effort to reduce these numbers,” Jourdan said.
Along with the Vision Zero initiative, Continental is partnering with the Global NCAP “Stop The Crash” information campaign, an initiative of Global NCAP, the London, UK-based umbrella body of the worldwide NCAP consumer organisations for new-car safety testing.
Throughout the campaign, Global NCAP and its partners, including Continental, will be conducting driving demonstrations to raise awareness of the benefits of safety technologies already in volume production, and to encourage their adoption in sub-compact and compact models too.