Our community continues to innovate and is increasingly aware of the importance of considering regulatory implications at an early stage to anticipate potential barriers. Based on my experience I think it is important to consider the following topics:
• Strengthening our community to make it truly representative of worldwide stakeholders. In this respect, GTB and DVN should continue to exploit their synergies which have already revealed mutual benefit.
• Intensifying the harmonisation effort. This requires strong commitment from all stakeholders. Last year I proposed a new approach to harmonisation by separating the technical work from the politics of the UN 1958 and 1998 Agreements. The main roadblock is the inflexibility of the USA, and this will only be addressed by our community speaking with one voice and actively proposing solutions to WP29 in Geneva. This is the work of GTB, an NGO with special consultative status at ECOSOC, but DVN can support with its high level networking.
• Developing a strategy concerning the effects of changing demographics on requirements for vehicle lighting systems. At the 2018 Tokyo DVN Workshop’s regulatory session, Dr. Bodrogi reviewed research concerning the worldwide demographic development and its consequences for the development of global vehicle lighting technical requirements. He emphasised that current technical requirements are written for young to middle-aged drivers, but elderly people over the age of 60 need twice the light and half the glare load just to see as well as younger drivers. Governments are attempting to adapt their traffic safety policies to include an ageing population of drivers wishing to retain their mobility. In addition to the question of nighttime driving, cognitive changes of the driver due to ageing are being considered.
Maybe it is time for our community to review our product strategies to develop lighting systems that will enable elderly drivers to continue to enjoy their human rights of mobility and safety for longer. In this week’s in-depth article, I offer my personal thoughts on this important subject. I and the whole of the DVN team will appreciate your views; please send us your thoughts, as progress cannot be made without you!