Ireland won’t commit to EU road safety deal

THE Government has been criticised by the European Commission for not supporting a major road-safety initiative designed to dramatically reduce road deaths across the continent.

Ireland is one of six EU member states that has so far failed to commit itself to the introduction of the eCall system because of concerns about the cost of the project.

However, the EU claims the actual cost of implementing eCall is less than €100 per vehicle. It estimates that equipping all cars in the EU with the eCall system could save €26 billion per annum given that road accidents currently cost the EU economy more than €160bn each year.