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FIA member Automobile Club of Luxembourg ACL offers driver training to Intelligent Car Quiz winners

Date

08 Apr 2008

Sections

Transport

Among the new technologies addressed in the Intelligent Car Quiz are Electronic Stability Control (ESC), emergency Call (eCall), Gear Shift Indicator (GSI) and Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS).

“Intelligent Car technologies can make mobility safer, greener and smarter” Werner Kraus, Chairman of the FIA Eurocouncil said. “We need better public awareness,
greater availability and government incentives to encourage the use of technologies such as ESC and eCall.”

The European Bureau of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and its member ACL gave their support to the European Commission in conceiving and
promoting the Intelligent Car Quiz and in offering a prize to the winners.

Commissioner Viviane Reding presented today driver training certificates to eight European citizens, coming from six different Member States, who have played the Intelligent Car Quiz. The quiz is designed to make European citizens aware of modern, information and communication based road transport safety systems. More than 30.000 people have played the quiz so far. It can still be played at http://ec.europa.eu/intelligentcar .

All of the eight prize winners were offered a weekend trip to Luxembourg and an advanced driving course that took place yesterday in Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg by
ACL. The winners all got the opportunity to test Intelligent Car technologies promoted by the Intelligent Car Initiative.
One of the tested new Intelligent Car technologies is the ESC. A study done by the University of Cologne showed that 4.000 lives can be saved and 100.000 accidents be avoided if all European cars have ESC. At the moment, ESC is usually available as standard in the luxury end of the car market, while it is either an option or not even available for smaller cars. As a result, a large part of the vehicle fleet, that would
benefit most from the safety benefits of ESC, is being denied this life saving technology. With ChooseESC! the FIA is participating in a campaign to make ESC
standard in all cars.

NOTES FOR THE EDITORS

- The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the world’s leading motoring and touring organisation, represents through its members, national motoring and touring organisations, over 100 million motorists worldwide. The European Bureau represents 34 million motorists in the countries of the Council of Europe. Europe’s motoring organisations have as their highest priority to make mobility more sustainable, i.e. more
reliable, cleaner and safer while keeping it affordable for all. For further information see http://www.fiabrussels.com.

- Road safety is one of the priorities of the European automobile clubs. They are involved in different projects helping to make the roads in Europe safer. Examples of projects at a European level in which the clubs are strongly involved include: the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP), EuroTest (a programme testing the quality and safety of mobility in Europe), the European Tunnel Assessment Programme (EuroTAP), the New Programme for the Assessment of Child-restraint
Systems (NPACS), the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), ERTICO-ITS Europe and the eSafetyAware! pan-European information campaign on
Electronic Stability Control (ChooseESC!).

- ESC stabilises the vehicle and prevents skidding under all driving conditions and driving situations within the physical limits by active braking intervention on one or more wheels and by intelligent engine torque management. As soon as ESC identifies
a critical driving situation it intervenes by applying specific brake pressure to one or more wheels, as required. If necessary, the engine torque is also adjusted automatically. In this way, ESC helps the driver stabilise the vehicle - although the extent to which it can do so is limited by the physical laws governing the dynamic behaviour of the vehicle. For further information see http://www.chooseesc.eu.

- The FIA European Bureau released earlier this year worrying road safety figures. The survey among national automobile clubs showed that the number of deaths has not decreased in the European Union during the last year (2007), while a number of EU member states face an unexpected increase in road fatalities. The results of the survey led to the conclusion that Europe’s target of halving fatalities by 2010 will not be met, unless the European Union implements additional measures without delay. The FIA has identified ESC and eCall as key technologies to help to pursue the road safety
target. Besides new technologies FIA is of the opinion that also road infrastructure and driver behaviour through education and enforcement should be addressed.

- For more information please contact: Olivier Lenz - Tel. +32 2 282 08 25