Scania takes a new initiative to boost road safety

45,000 fatalities every year on roads in the EU Scania takes a new initiative to boost road safety With statistics showing 45,000 fatalities and more than one and a half million people injured every year on roads in the European Union, Scania took the ini- tiative on Wednesday to bring together the EU's foremost traffic-policy stra- tegists and politicians along with the leading experts in modern transport re- search. The format was a road-safety seminar held in Brussels. "The goal is to work together to find solutions to influence this trend," says Leif Östling, President and CEO of Scania. "Our contribution on the part of the truck industry is to raise the issue to the highest level possible, not least to put it on the political agenda. In parallel, we can contribute with technical solutions and innovations that pro- mote road safety, an area in which Scania has a long and renowned tradition," explains Leif Östling. At the seminar, Scania unveiled an all-new transport concept - still in model form - but already so far advanced that the company is running the project as a full-scale prototype. "Our 28-metre rig is of an entirely new design, integrating the primary pa- rameters of safety, fuel economy and environmental optimisation," says Kaj Holmelius, Senior Vice President, Research and Truck Development at Scania. "We have increased the payload by 50 percent compared with today's rigs, yet at the same time reduced fuel consumption - both through the use of new mate- rials and by cutting air drag to levels close to those of a passenger car." Scania's well-attended safety seminar in Brussels on Wednesday saw the par- ticipation of key persons such as Robert Coleman, Director-General of the EU Commission's transport directorate, Luc Werring, the directorate's head of safety issues, and road safety experts from Sweden and Ireland. "We in the industry must work closely with the politicians if we are to lower the entirely unacceptable figure of 45,000 fatalities a year. It is my hope that Scania's safety seminar will promote an intensified debate on the issue, leading to constructive suggestions and closer co-operation on road safety is- sues in Europe," concludes Leif Östling. For further information, please contact Ulf Söderström, Press Manager, tel. +46 8 55381044. Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. With 23,500 employees and production facilities in Europe and Latin America, Scania is one of the most profitable companies in its sector. In 1998, turnover to- talled SEK 45,300 million and income after financial items SEK 3,200 million. Scania products are marketed in about 100 countries worldwide and approxi- mately 96 percent of total production is sold outside Sweden. Scania press releases are available on the Internet, www.scania.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/09/29/19990929BIT00470/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/09/29/19990929BIT00470/bit0002.pdf