The Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) is urging the Australian Government to urgently strengthen vehicle safety regulations, warning that outdated standards are putting lives at risk.
While Europe has embraced world-leading safety technologies, it says Australians are being left behind and are driving cars that would not be allowed on European roads.
“Every year, hundreds of Australians are killed in crashes that could have been prevented with safer vehicles,” ACRS chief executive Dr Ingrid Johnston says.
“The evidence is clear: adopting stronger safety standards reduces fatalities and serious injuries. Australia cannot afford to keep falling behind.”
With the National Road Safety Strategy 2021–2030 aiming to halve road deaths and serious injuries by 2030, modernising vehicle safety regulations must be a top priority.
“This is about making sure Australians are driving vehicles that give them the best chance of survival,” Dr Johnston says. “We need responsible leadership and immediate action to bring our safety standards in line with the best in the world.”
According to the ACRS, Australia has yet to adopt the European General Safety Regulation (EU GSR II, Regulation (EU) 2019/2144), which mandates a comprehensive suite of life-saving technologies. These include intelligent speed assistance (ISA) and event data recorders (EDRs), both of which are essential components of modern vehicle safety systems.
While EDRs provide critical information about crash dynamics and are invaluable for post-crash investigation and learning, they do not actively prevent crashes—reinforcing the need for a broader suite of preventative safety technologies.
The European regulation also mandates features such as lane-keeping assistance, advanced driver distraction warning systems, enhanced pedestrian and cyclist detection, and drowsiness detection systems—none of which are currently required under Australian Design Rules (ADRs).
This lack of alignment means many new vehicles sold in Australia are missing features that are already saving lives in Europe.
Even where Australia has introduced safety measures, they often lag significantly behind international standards according to the ACRS.
It cites automatic emergency braking (AEB) as one such example. It is only now being introduced under ADRs—six years after Europe’s adoption. However, the requirement in Australia is limited to car-to-car functionality, whereas European New Car Assessment Programmes (NCAPs) assess a broader range of AEB performance scenarios, including AEB for pedestrians, cyclists, and intersections.
Furthermore, the performance scenarios required under ADRs are limited in scope, failing to reflect the diversity of real-world crash risks according to the ACRS. In contrast, it says Euro NCAP encourages manufacturers to meet more demanding and realistic safety benchmarks, rewarding innovation and broader crash prevention capabilities.
Some vehicles currently on sale in Australia have received zero- or one-star ANCAP safety ratings. One of these models—sold in Europe under similar branding—achieves a three-star rating under Euro NCAP, due to stricter vehicle design and safety feature requirements.
Many Australian consumers are unaware of these differences and have purchased vehicles under the mistaken assumption that safety standards are equivalent across markets according to the ACRS.
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