Global NCAP Movement Marks Gathering Momentum At Seoul Annual Meeting
Global NCAP’s Annual Meeting took place in Seoul, Korea on May 30. The meeting brought together all NCAPs active worldwide to share experience in promoting consumer information about automobile crash avoidance and protection. The annual meeting was held in conjunction with the 23rd biannual Enhanced Safety of Vehicles conference, organised by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
The meeting featured significant commitments to vehicle safety in the UN Decade of Action (2011-2020). These include the universal application of the most important international vehicle safety regulations and support for NCAPs in all world regions, a policy which has the unanimous backing of the United Nations’ General Assembly. Global NCAP’s Secretary General David Ward told the meeting: “Global NCAP is creating the momentum and participation that will help to turn the UN Decade of Action from words into action.”
Global NCAP also adopted the ‘Seoul Declaration’, which encourages consumers to choose five-star vehicles whenever possible and for the automotive industry to make a voluntary commitment to set a floor of minimum safety standards for the vehicles they produce worldwide. The Declaration aims to focus attention on the need to reduce the high numbers of preventable injuries and deaths in emerging markets.
The organisation’s second annual safety awards were presented. The winners were Euro NCAP for its pioneering role in consumer crash testing and its contribution to the significant reduction in deaths and injuries in the European Union over the past 16 years. The Individual Achievement award went to three individuals who made a substantial contribution to Euro NCAP’s creation: Adrian Hobbs, formerly of the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory, Keith Rogers and Maurice Eaton, formerly of the UK’s Department for Transport.
The winner of Global NCAP’s Innovation Award was Volvo Car Corporation in recognition of the advances made by the company to improve the protection for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. The pedestrian airbag introduced on the Volvo V40 and the company’s pedestrian detection system deserve particular recognition. Presenting the award to Professor Lotta Jakobsson of Volvo, David Ward congratulated the car company: “Around half of the 1.2 million people killed on our roads each year, around half are vulnerable road users. Volvo’s work is exactly the kind of innovation needed to ensure the Decade of Action achieves meaningful results.”
While in Seoul, Global NCAP’s Board of Trustees approved its annual financial statement and accounts. Global NCAP’s first global communications group meeting also took place, establishing best practice and codes of practice for consumer information and use of NCAP logos.
YOUTUBE
