Year-on-year improvements in vehicle technology are helping to improve the safety of Australians on national roads.

Government figures show that road deaths in Australia have declined over the past decade.

The FCAI sees safer cars as a key element of this decrease, along with safer roads and safe driver behaviour.

The FCAI continues to support the National Road Safety Strategy 2011–2020, which outlines broad directions for the future of Australian road safety, and sets out initiatives and options in four key areas—Safe Roads, Safe Speeds, Safe Vehicles and Safe People.

New cars made for the Australian market have a strong emphasis on safety and include some of the very latest safety, security and environmental technologies available anywhere in the world.

We have one of the most competitive new car markets in the world. This competition is good for road safety, with manufacturers continually striving to introduce the very latest technologies into their vehicles.

FCAI members are currently introducing vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems into Australia, as part of the progression to true driverless cars.

Recent advances in safety included forward collision warning, blind spot warning systems, autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning systems and lane keeping assist systems.

These systems are available in many new vehicles today.

 

2015 Senate Road Safety Inquiry

The FCAI's submission to the 2015 Senate Road Safety Inquiry provided the FCAI’s view on road safety and the role of the vehicle, and was aimed at also addressing the following parts of the Inquiry terms of reference;

  • the importance of design standards on imported vehicles, as Australian manufacturing winds down; and
  • the impact of new technologies and advancements in understating of vehicle design and road safety.

The submission is available on the publications page of this website. 

ATV Safety

The FCAI promotes the safe use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and encourages ATV users to undertake training and  follow known safety practices when using their vehicles. These practices include wearing a helmet and other appropriate safety gear, not carrying more than the manufacturer’s approved number of passengers, not overloading the ATV, not allowing children to ride adult-sized ATVs and not riding under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Read more…

Advanced driver assistance systems

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) assist drivers with warnings or automatic braking to help avoid or mitigate accidents. ADAS systems currently being delivered to the market in Australia include: blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, following distance warning, lane keep assist, land departure warning, self-parking, adaptive headlights, fatigue warning, and traffic-jam assist. Read more…

Autonomous Emergency Braking

The fitting of Autonomous Emergency Braking, known as AEB, is on the rise in Australia. AEB is known to show a significant reduction in low speed rear-end crashes around the world and manufacturers selling vehicles in Australia are increasingly fitting this and other safety technology into the models they are bringing to the Australian market. Fitting rates in Australia are comparable to major European markets. Read more…

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) enables communication and real-time information sharing between vehicles (V2V) and roadside infrastructure (V2I) as well as to pedestrian and cyclists via wireless consumer devices, in order to improve safety, productivity, efficiency and environmental outcomes. Many brands have already indicated that they will release vehicles fitted with C-ITS in the next few years in both Europe and the United States. It is likely that FCAI member brands will also introduce vehicles fitted with C-ITS in the near future. To facilitate the introduction of vehicles with C-ITS, and to send a signal to governments on the standards for road infrastructure, it is important for the industry to advise the various levels of government of our view on spectrum allocation, the standards required and a regulatory model. Read more…