Euro NCAP announces new Truck Safety rating scheme

Euro NCAP has announced that it will expand the scope of its safety information to include heavy vehicles in a new Truck Safety rating scheme.

The new scheme is said to allow all stakeholders in the freight industry to identify and assess the safety level of equipment in their heavy truck fleets.

Not only will this deliver enhanced safety for drivers, but it will create a market for safe technology that will allow manufacturers to innovate and advance their offering within a clear framework for safety grounded in Euro NCAP principles.

Cities and public authorities will be able to clearly identify the best vehicles for their roads and incentivise adoption and companies will be able to easily determine the vehicle specifications they need to comply with in road authority schemes.

However, Euro NCAP acknowledges that one size does not fit all and has created a dual rating for both city and highway environments.

This is because many trucks will be used solely for depot-to-depot transport and never go near a built-up area, while others will spend their time distributing goods in cities or might need to access off-road sites, rural lanes, motorways, and city centres.

The safety assessment entity states that only general-purpose vehicles require good performance in both ratings.

“By examining safety levels of heavy and commercial trucks and improving their safety, I believe that we can end traffic-related fatalities and help many European countries to achieve their ‘Vision Zero’ target in road casualties,” says Michiel van Ratingen, Secretary-General Euro NCAP.

”A truck safety label can incentivise good performance, allow optimisation of operational safety and cost, and will accelerate regulatory efforts to improve truck safety. European roads will hence become safer.”

The same can be said for New Zealand roads too considering many European trucks like Volvo, Scania, MAN and more are sold locally.