With so many things to manage when running a business, company vehicles and employee road safety can be pushed down the priority list. We all think we know how to drive, so there’s a tendency to assume if an employee has a licence, they will be safe of the road.
Unfortunately this isn't the case because drivers have different levels of skill, and vehicles have different levels of safety. One way to set a foundation for safe driving within your business is to start by purchasing vehicles that come with a five star ANCAP safety rating.
What is ANCAP?
The Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) started in 1992 to assess the safety of new vehicles by performing a series of crash tests in order to provide a rating for each vehicle. Its purpose is to educate car buyers on vehicle safety and influence them to choose the safest vehicle in the category when purchasing.
Testing procedures used by ANCAP have evolved since it started in 1992, with each adjustment raising the bar for vehicle manufacturers to achieve the prestigious five star safety rating.
What's new in 2023?
In 2023, ANCAP implemented the latest round of changes to the assessment criteria which will apply to all new models. This means a vehicle sold in 2017 with five star rating may not achieve the same score when tested in 2023 with the new criteria.
These changes form part of ANCAP and Euro NCAP's regular regime enhancements, which encourage continual safety improvements every few years. The previous step-change in criteria took effect from January 2020.
ANCAP's expanded 2023 test and assessment criteria will include new areas, such as the ability of a vehicle to avoid a crash with a motorcyclist, child presence detection, and vehicle submergence.
Fleets are using ANCAP ratings to improve road safety
Businesses and government agencies running large fleets of vehicles implement procurement policies that mandate a minimum ANCAP five star rating for new vehicles. This keeps their employees safe on the road and provides a constant supply of safe used vehicles because most fleets replace vehicles every three to five years.
Safety ratings are also available on light commercial vehicles and in the last few years the top selling utes and vans have achieved five star safety ratings.
The four key areas of ANCAP assessment – in place since 2018 – reflect the four distinct phases of a potential crash event:
- Adult Occupant Protection
- Child Occupant Protection
- Vulnerable Road User Protection
- Safety Assist (collision avoidance)
For businesses looking to help improve employee road safety these four areas provide a framework to develop a comprehensive fleet policy. Within each one there are a number of things that can be done to make sure employees driving for work get home safely each day.
Looking to the future
ANCAP is also looking to the future of connected and autonomous vehicles to develop testing criteria in 2030 when technology will allow cars to be connected to infrastructure and driving with less input from the driver.
Improvements in technology will allow more precise driver monitoring to recognise impairment from alcohol and other distractions. Safety systems will be able to adjust their setting based on the occupant biometric data to optimise the performance of airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioning.
Each of these new technologies will need to be tested and rated by ANCAP to inform new car buyers so they can continue choose the safest cars in each segment.
