Bosch paves the way towards safer mobility in South East Asia

In a keynote speech at the EU-ASEAN Business Summit in Manila, the Philippines, Martin Hayes, President of Bosch in South East Asia addressed the issue of road safety in the region. Bosch believes that more can be done to improve road safety in South East Asia. Each year, there are approximately 63,000 reported road traffic deaths in the ASEAN member countries, although the World Health Organization believes that the actual number lies at around 117,000 per year due either to inaccurate data or undocumented accidents.

Within the region, there is considerable variation in fatality rates between the individual countries. While Singapore has one of the fewest traffic-related deaths worldwide per capita, Thailand has one of the most, second only to Libya. The Philippines has the second-lowest road traffic fatality rate in the region after Singapore. Malaysia is the first and only ASEAN member country to mandate all new cars to be equipped with Electronic Stability Control from 2018 onwards.

An Anti-lock Braking System allows the driver to maintain steering control and in most situations, shortens the braking distance without skidding. In 1995, Bosch improved this technology by developing the world's first Electronic Stability Programme (also known as ESP or ESC), which is today equipped in 64 percent of all new cars worldwide. In Europe alone, ESP has saved more than 8,500 lives and prevented more than a quarter of a million traffic accidents to date.