If you’re renting a car in the EU soon, you may find some new features: New cars registered in the EU starting in July will have a variety of new safety equipment designed to improve highway safety.
At the top of the new requirements is flashing brake lights that flash rapidly when brakes are applied abruptly, helping alert drivers behind and hopefully reducing rear-end collisions, the most frequent kind on European roads. The blinking is meant to keep a distinction between emergencies and normal slowing down.
Most of the now-required features have already been available as options, including automatic emergency braking systems and lane-keeping assist as well as fatigue and inattention warnings. Also on the menu is ‘intelligent speed assist’ to help drivers stay within legal limits—assuming they actually want to.
Another significant item: an event data recorder, similar to an aircraft black box, to store data in case of an accident. Also required is compatibility for possible future requirement of immobilizer systems that can keep a drunken driver off the road.
