AIn the middle of summer, the new European car safety standards began to come into force amidst great indifference, like all these technical measures that seem self-evident. After all, improving road safety is a fairly consensual cause – no one wants to kill, or be killed, in a road accident – and reinforcing vehicles through innovation is a means that eludes any form of debate or discussion. However, behind these seemingly painless measures lies a whole political unthinking: that of a certain relationship with technology, invested with all sorts of powers and seen as the sole provider of solutions to every problem – including those for which it is responsible.
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These new automotive standards are a case in point. Since July 7, any (new) four-wheeled vehicle marketed in the European Union must be equipped with a myriad of electronic systems and sensors enabling lane keeping assistance, autonomous emergency braking, “intelligent” speed adaptation, driver distraction or drowsiness alerts, obstacle detection at the rear of the vehicle, etc.
Cars and trucks will also have to pass new, more demanding crash tests, which will mechanically lead to their becoming heavier, notes UFC-Que Choisir. It is impossible to anticipate the impact that these measures will have on accident rates, but it is certain that they will not only contribute to increasing the amount of energy needed to run our cars, but also to worsening their environmental footprint, with more electronics and more screens on board, therefore more water and energy needed for their manufacture, more metals, rare earths, plastics, etc. The extent of the benefits is uncertain, the disadvantages are certain.
Technical reductionism
Here we touch on the most comical paradox of the making of European public policies, each of which seems to have its own rudder. While on one floor of the Berlaymont, people are pedalling hard to go north, on the floor below, they are manoeuvring fiercely to set a course south (hence the cardinal importance of the Commission’s spokespersons, whose task is then to construct declarations capable of convincing us that the north and the south are in reality, more or less, in the same direction).
The European Union has thus set itself targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, but at the same time is forcing its automobile industry to increase the environmental and climate footprint of its cars. It will be argued that the current movement, strongly pushed by the EU, is towards the electrification of the fleet. That is true. But energy from renewables or nuclear power plants is not inexhaustible: significant efforts at moderation will be necessary in all sectors if we want to do without fossil fuels. In all sectors, therefore, except the automobile sector – let us note in passing that a small Renault Zoe or an electric Peugeot 208 weighs 1.5 tonnes, i.e. around three times more than a 2CV.
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