08 Sep 2017

ANCAP welcomes Inquiry to focus efforts of National Road Safety Strategy.

Independent vehicle safety authority, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), today welcomed the Australian Government’s Inquiry into the effectiveness of the National Road Safety Strategy.

“ANCAP welcomes this Inquiry and, as the independent authority on and consumer advocate for vehicle safety, we look forward to participating,” ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Mr James Goodwin said.

“Much has been done to improve road safety over the past seven years of the Strategy but there is still much more to be done and it’s encouraging to see the Government take an active step to focus efforts.”

“The rising road toll is a concern and vehicle safety needs to be a key focus.”

“New vehicles entering the Australian fleet are the safest they’ve ever been, but we must also consider the entire vehicle fleet,” Mr Goodwin said.

“ANCAP analysis shows that the average age of a car on the road is 9.8 years yet the average age of a vehicle involved in a fatal crash is 12.9 years. In just one year, this has increased from an average of 12.5 years so it’s clear we must also consider the older vehicles in the fleet as a means to improve road safety.”

“Modern safety technologies will also play a vital role in reducing road trauma and ANCAP’s current focus is to resource local capability to test and assess these new and emerging technologies to ensure increased safety benefits are realised,” said Mr Goodwin.

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