Leading Transport Ministers Test Drive Latest eSafety Systems

On 26 May 2011, the eSafety Challenge project demonstrated the latest eSafety technologies for vehicles at the OECD International Transport Forum (ITF) in Leipzig/Germany, with the involvement of Transport Ministers and delegates from 52 participating countries.

“It is great that the Ministers were so keen to test these life-saving technologies today. We need the support of policy-makers to secure eSafety take up through legislation or voluntarily,” said Professor Gunter Zimmermeyer, Chairman of ERTICO - ITS Europe and Vice President of eSafetyAware. “Improving emergency response times, in particular thanks to eCall (an automated emergency alert system) can in many cases mean the difference between life and death,” he added.

“Road Safety is a global issue: it is the number one cause of death for young people worldwide. So raising awareness among international Transport Ministers is vitally important, as we know that one of the main obstacles for increased deployment of these life saving technologies is a lack of knowledge among consumers”, said Jacob Bangsgaard, Director General of FIA Region I and Secretary General of eSafetyAware.

Participants in the demonstrations included:

- Mr Roberto Aguerrebere, Mexican Delegation (ESC demonstration)
- Mr Thierry Mariani, Secretary of State for Transport, France (Blind Spot Monitoring demonstration)
- Ms Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd, Minister for Infrastructure, Sweden (City Safety: an Emergency Braking system at low speed for driving in traffic)
- Ms Etienne Krug , WHO (Emergency Braking demonstration performed at high speed with BMW MotorSport driver Dirk Werner)
- Mr Jack Short, Secretary General of the International Transport Forum (eCall demonstration)