20. The experts from France and Germany, in their capacity of Co-chairs of the Informal Working Group (IWG) on a Quiet Road Transport Vehicles (QRTV) Regulation under 1958 Agreement, presented a draft QRTV Regulation (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRB/2015/9 and GRB-62-22).

21. The expert from WBU called for shared responsibility of drivers and vulnerable road users for road safety and requested that the Audible Vehicle Alert System (AVAS) of QRTV be “ON” while the vehicle is stationary and that the driver should not be able to deactivate (or pause) AVAS (GRB-62-03). He also referred to a study (GRB-62-16) suggesting that the proposed AVAS level of sound did not seem to make QRTV with AVAS more detectable to the average blind person than was QRTV without AVAS. According to the study, more research would be needed to determine a minimal noise level that would satisfy the desire to reduce noise emissions while remaining safe for pedestrians.

22. GRB recalled that AVAS provisions had been recently adopted in the European Union and were scheduled to be announced in the United States of America in November 2015. Therefore, GRB stressed the urgent need for a QRTV Regulation and decided to adopt ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRB/2015/9, subject to minor editorial corrections. The secretariat was requested to submit it to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration and vote at their March 2016 sessions. At the same time, GRB was of the view that the concerns raised by WBU should be studied further, also bearing in mind recent technologies that improve road safety. To address these issues, GRB agreed that the mandates of both IWG QRTV for a Regulation and IWG QRTV for a GTR should be extended and requested the Chair to seek the WP.29 consent.