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Banned from the bar
Page 40
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Within a few weeks it will be illegal to fit or sell old-style metal bull bars — instead an EU directive will encourage the use of energy-absorbent frontal protection
systems. David Craik
outlines the changes.
0 Id-style metal bull bars may look cool on the front of a Chelsea Tractor but they increase the chances of maiming or killing pedestrians. That's why the EU is banning them on vehicles 3.5 tonnes and less, in line with its target of halving road traffic deaths between 2000 and 2010. It advocates frontal protection systems (FPS) that are designed to enhance pedestrian safety.
This reflects a trend within the EU to pay more attention to the safety of road users rather than the occupants of the vehicles themselves. It defines an FPS as any separate structure or structures,such as a bull bar or a supplementary bumper, intended to protect the external surface of a vehicle. Structures with a mass of less than 500g, and intended to protect only the lights, are excluded from this definition.The legislation will introduce objective and performance standards for FPSs. This follows research into pedestrian injuries which has helped show how to assess a vehicle's potential to inflict injuries.
All old-style metal bull bars will be banned; it will be illegal to fit or sell them. An FPS such as a bull bar, even if fitted to a vehicle as original equipment, must now comply with a set of technical standards for its construction and installation which requires it to enhance the safety of the vehicle. From 25 May all FPSs including bull bars must pass stringent tests at an accredited testing facility and must be granted type approval. This will effectively outlaw the old and dangerous metal bull bars, while endorsing energy-absorbing FPSs. Test requirements include: • The total mass of the FPS, including all brackets and fixings, must not exceed 1.2% of the mass of the vehicle for which it is designed.
• The FPS must not increase the width of the vehicle to which it is fitted.
• The FPS must not significantly reduce the effectiveness of the bumper.
Tests on the vehicle will be carried out at an impact speed of 40ktn/h with and without the FPS fitted. The two tests will be performed in equivalent locations as agreed with the relevant test authority And every FPS that passes the test must carry an EC type-approval mark. •