The Vice-President of the European Commission Günter Verheugen spoke about the automotive regulatory system at the Forum for the Automotive and Society event 26 February 2008. He particularly mentioned ESC as the largest potential safety feature and he stressed that the Commission will use the international standardisation effort to get ESC in all vehicles in the future. He also said that more should be done to unlock the potential of optimised traffic management and infrastructure and that the public should be made more aware of the benefits of ecodriving.
The European Parliament discussed later the same day the benefits of eSafety systems like eCall and ESC as it has been presented in the Commission communication on intelligent cars.
Zita Gurmai, Member of the European Parliament presented in the Transport Committee of the Parliament her views on the Commission report. The key topic discussed in the Committee was how to make the user aware of the benefits that eSafety technologies can bring and how to make sure that the dealers inform the consumers sufficiently at the point of sale. ESC and eCall were mentioned as the two most important technologies needing support at the moment but also education of drivers was mentioned as an area that needs more focus. The Parliament will decide on the final amendments to the Commission report at the June 2008 plenary.
ChooseESC! was present in the Parliament with an information stand where Members of the Parliament could get more information about the safety benefits of ESC.