Allianz Motor Day: Better protection for the vulnerable

The introduction of mandatory seat belt use, airbags, ESP, active driver assistance systems and improved body structures has reduced the total number of road deaths in recent decades. “However, we are currently seeing that these figures are stagnating at just under 3,000 road deaths per year. In order to further reduce the number of deaths, we now have to focus more on vulnerable groups in addition to cars,” explains the AZT's managing director. On closer inspection, it is noticeable that accident hot spots in city centers regularly occur where unprotected road users encounter small vans or trucks. Put simply, it's about the conflict between small and large.

In 2022, trucks were involved in 22 percent of traffic accidents with fatalities, although they only make up around 6 percent of registered vehicles. Small vans are also increasingly involved in fatal accidents. One of the reasons for this is presumably the shift towards online retailing, which is leading to more delivery vehicles in residential areas and thus to more high-risk situations locally.

According to the AZT's analyses, the situation at merging lanes is one of the most dangerous traffic constellations for trucks, in addition to the scene at the intersection described at the beginning. The evaluations show that pedestrians and cyclists are particularly at risk when trucks turn right. When trucks turn left, motorcyclists are particularly often affected.

According to Sahr, other typical accident situations can be observed with small vans: “In particular, entrances and exits the road is risky here – as is parallel traffic, when vehicles are traveling in the same or opposite direction. However, truck and delivery van drivers are not solely responsible for such accidents, because cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians are often in the blind spot due to carelessness or lack of knowledge.”

Another cause of accidents – especially for so-called courier, express and package delivery services – is driver distraction, for example when searching for the next delivery address. Since, unlike traditional postal vans, they do not drive from house to house, they have to look for the next stop on their mobile device. “Often in accidents in parallel traffic, they are looking at their device while driving, and then the crash happens quickly,” explains expert Christian Sahr.

Legislators have also become aware of the growing problem between large and small vehicles: In the European Union, the ‘General Safety Regulation’ has been in place for two years, which is gradually establishing safety standards for trucks. For example, as of July 2024, additional driver assistance systems must be integrated into newly registered vehicles – such as, for example, collision, blind spot and reversing information systems. These are designed to prevent collisions, especially in situations involving vulnerable road users. The EU's goal here is “Vision Zero”, an ambitious plan to reduce the number of road deaths to zero by 2050.

To achieve this ideal, traffic expert Christian Sahr believes that further measures are necessary: “The safety standards of trucks and vans must go beyond the legal requirements, because in addition to the existence of driver assistance systems, their quality is also crucial.” As Sahr explains, an emergency braking assistant, for example, is an extremely important system, but it is not effective enough if it only reduces speed by 20 kilometers per hour. “Then you drive into a traffic jam at 60 km/h instead of 80 km/h, which can still have fatal consequences.” Some driver assistance systems are able to completely avoid the accident, beyond the legally required reduction. These systems are therefore considerably more effective. That is why an evaluation system for the installed assistants is essential, as will be introduced by Euro NCAP this year, for example.”

Euro NCAP, short for European New Car Assessment Programme, is an independent consumer protection organization that, among other things, assesses the safety of driver assistance systems. Based on various crash test scenarios, safety ratings are developed for specific vehicle types. Several European cities follow the Euro NCAP ratings and have set their own requirements for vans and trucks in their urban areas. However, Christian Sahr believes that it is problematic that these measures have not yet been harmonized across the EU, with each city setting its own rules: “If car manufacturers have to adapt their vehicle types to each city individually, high costs arise. This makes mobility unnecessarily more expensive.”

Investing in high-performance driver assistance systems not only has a positive effect on road safety but also benefits fleet operators, because only safe vehicles can be profitable. Sahr explains that vehicle safety ratings could also affect insurance premiums. Extensive ratings of the safety systems in trucks and vans would enable fleet operators to assess at the point of purchase how much safer certain vehicle models are compared to others, and then reduce accident rates and downtime by making appropriate choices. This in turn increases profitability and lowers operating costs – including insurance. These are all convincing arguments for selecting more effective safety systems for the fleet.

On this point, the managing director of AZT also sees an obligation on the part of the insurers. They can increase safety standards by providing appropriate advice and incentives in their pricing. “As an insurer, we have a huge lever when we educate fleet operators about the safety and profitability of their vehicles. But we also advise vehicle manufacturers on safety equipment, based on the research data from AZT. When we talk about modifying a product at AZT, we are not just talking about modifying the insurance product, but also the insured product, i.e. the car, truck or van. We want to modify the vehicle before it hits the road so that the safety standard is higher from the outset. We have conducted many consulting projects with various automobile manufacturers to this end.”