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Mohammed Ben Sulayem is aiming to secure major backing in the Middle East for a global campaign to make driving safer through the wider
installation of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) in cars.
Sulayem, President of the Emirates Automobile and Touring Club,
is planning to meet the UAE distributors of all the major car manufacturers later this
month to press them to give priority to the life-saving technology.
ESC is an “intelligent” crash avoidance technology which controls a vehicle’s braking system to avoid oversteer or understeer and retain the
drivers control of the vehicle. A range of studies in Europe, the USA and elsewhere show that ESC can reduce passenger car single-vehicle
crashes by as much as 35%.
Sulayem attended a meeting in London last week of the FIA World Council for Mobility & the Automobile which ratified a policy position on ESC,
driven by FIA President Max Mosley, and called for increased take-up of the life-saving technology worldwide.
He is now fully backing an FIA recommendation that all vehicle buyers choose an ESC equipped model, and that FIA member clubs worldwide
promote and support consumer awareness campaigns highlighting its safety benefits.
“The aim is persuade manufacturers to make ESC available in as many countries as possible, and progressively make it a standard feature
across all model ranges,” said Sulayem. “The eventual goal is to develop a Global Technical Regulation which will lead to the standardisation of
ESC across all new passenger vehicles by 2012.”
“Studies have shown that ESC can make a significant contribution to reducing death and injury on our roads, and we have to take notice of this
in the Middle East, which has the highest traffic fatality rate in the world amongst young men.”
The Emirates Automobile and Touring Club will be taking steps both independently, and in partnership with its counterparts across the Middle
East, to raise awareness of the safety benefits of ESC.
“I’m starting by calling together distributors of the car manufactures in the UAE to discuss what can be done to speed up the
process. We need decisive action now to standardise the technology in all vehicles and prevent the unnecessary loss of
life” Sulayem
said.
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