Bull bars to get EU ban
25 November 2002: Bull bars on the front of cars and SUVs are to be banned by 2005 under a new EU directive on safety initiatives. The EU will also insist on making antilock brakes standard fitment on all cars by the mid-decade according to EU Spokeman, Peter Haugaard, when he briefed press on the directives which will be published next Wednesday by the European Commission.
As well as banning bull bars and making antilock brakes stanadard, all new vehicles will have to undergo tests to assess how they react in frontal impacts with pedestrians.
Over 9,000 cyclists pedestrians are killed - and a further 200,000 seriously injured in the EU each year. And tests have shown that bull bars which are purely cosmetic enhancers can kill a pedestrian at speeds as low as 12 miles an hour.
Renault, expected to be the only car manufacturer to boast of three cars with a maximum 5-Star NCAP rating, when the latest batch of car tests come through on Thursday next are well prepared for the anti-lock brakes legislation. According to Jerr Nolan, Renault Chief Execuative, all Renault cars, apart from Twingo which isn't sold here, already have series antilock brakes.
The new directive is the third in a series of EU road safety initiatives, the other two in the late '90s targeted car occupant protection in front on and lateral collisions.