Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the (a) known and (b) estimated safety benefits to vulnerable road users including (a) pedestrians, (b) cyclists and (c) motorised two wheelers of fitting (i) cars, (ii) vans and (iii) lorries fitted with the latest sensing Autonomous Emergency Braking.

UK casualty data regarding pedestrians and cyclists were used in the European project, “Assessment methodologies for forward looking Integrated Pedestrian and further extension to Cyclists Safety Systems”(AsPeCSS - 2014). It estimated that first generation AEBS could reduce pedestrian fatalities by 6% and serious injuries by 4% when assessed against a baseline of no AEBS. Estimates for second generation systems, with greater pedestrian recognition capability, indicated a reduction of fatal and serious injuries of 14% and 9% respectively.

The capability of AEBS to reduce cycle casualties was assessed but, due to the less mature state of the technology, the benefits could not be quantified in such clear terms.

This study does not provide a breakdown by casualty and by vehicle type.