The 4WD Industry Council of the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) has welcomed the Federal Government decision to withdraw the Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) on Pedestrian Safety on the basis that the proposal was not suitable for Australian conditions.

Released on January 12, the RIS proposed the adoption of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Regulation GTR-09 on pedestrian safety to supersede the current Australian Design Rule for vehicle frontal design.

The proposal also considered changes to regulations governing the design of vehicle frontal protection systems (bull bars and nudge bars). The RIS was to be open for public consultation until 15 April with a final decision on the adoption of the regulation scheduled for later this year.

AAAA Executive Director Stuart Charity said this European standard was not suitable for Australian driving conditions.

"The RIS focused on pedestrian safety in an urban context. It took no account of the safety needs of millions of Australians living, working and holidaying in outer urban and regional areas. The Federal Government recognised this and withdrew the proposal before the consultation period closed," Mr Charity said.

"We emphasise that the 4WD Industry Council fully supports improved pedestrian safety in Australia, however improvements in pedestrian safety should not result in increased risk to the safety of vehicle occupants in rural and outback Australia."

Bull bars protect vehicle occupants

Vehicle insurers' statistics indicate that on outer urban and regional roads in Australia, vehicle occupants face risk of injury and death from an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 animal strikes a year.

Bull bars have protected these families from impacts with small and large animals immobilising their vehicle in a remote place, or worse, animals crashing through the windscreen into the passenger compartment. In addition to providing protection from animal strike, bull bars provide a platform for other safety equipment, including auxiliary lighting, winches for vehicle retrieval and aerials for remote communication.

Many employers, including agricultural, mining and government authorities fit bull bars to their vehicles to protect their staff.

"To the users, manufacturers and installers of bull bars in Australia, these vital safety benefits have long been understood. Australia is a world leader in bull bar design and produces and exports state of the art products that complement modern vehicle crash cell technology," Mr Charity said.

"Unfortunately there was absolutely no recognition of the safety benefits that bulls bars provide for vehicle occupants included in the RIS."

In response to this lack of hard data in the RIS, the 4WD Industry Council launched a national on line survey in January to gather statistics from bull bar users about animal strikes and other incidents. The intention was to offer this data to the Department as part of the 4WD Industry Council submission at the close of the consultation process.

To date more than 35,000 people have completed the survey. This huge amount of public information collected in just five weeks will be integrated into an industry position paper on vehicle frontal protection systems and will help to ensure that the safety benefits of bull bars are factored into Government decision making on road safety in future.

"We applaud the decisive action by the Hon Catherine King MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Transport, to stop this proposal that would have put the safety of millions of Australians driving in regional and rural Australia in jeopardy," Mr Charity said.

For further information or to arrange an interview:

Stuart Charity
Executive Director
Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association
03 9545 3333