Road safety gets a boost with new UN fix for ‘pedal error’

23 September 2024

Together with vehicle manufacturers and governments, the  UN Working Party  dealing with advanced driving technology issues has adopted a new regulation that prevents unwanted, sudden acceleration by making use of tech that can detect objects both in front of and behind vehicles.

UNECE – the UN agency with overall responsibility for road safety regulations worldwide – noted that more accidents of this kind can be expected in future, given the expected doubling of the number of people aged 65 years or older worldwide by 2050.

The UN agency also cautioned that the global rise in sales of cars with automatic transmission were another factor likely to contribute to more pedal-error accidents.

This assessment is based on crash data from the United Kingdom showing that seven out of eight “pedal misapplication” episodes involve automatics. The new UN regulation will therefore only apply to automatic passenger vehicles. It is expected to enter into force in June 2025, although this is not a mandatory start date.