BRUSSELS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Cutting road deaths deserves the same attention as fighting terrorism, Max Mosley, the president of the International Automobile Federation, said on Monday.
Mosley, who heads two road safety bodies as well as motorsport's governing body, said 1.26 million people had died on the roads worldwide in 2000, dwarfing the number killed by terrorism.
"If you compare that to the victims of terrorism, and you think of the energy, time and publicity that goes into dealing with terrorism... it is extraordinary that road safety does not attract more interest, especially on a world scale."
Mosley, chairman of public-private road safety group ERTICO, was speaking at a European Union news conference on technologies to prevent vehicle accidents.
He cited a new generation of antilock braking, electronic stability control, which should only cost 100 to 200 euros ($114 to $228) to fit. Research had shown that electronic stability control could cut road deaths significantly by stopping cars going into a spin, Mosley said.
However, European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said standard antilock brakes were still only present in two thirds of cars on European Union roads, despite being developed in the 1970s.
He added that the EU could speed the adoption of new technologies by promoting common standards, for example for in-car radar systems which could be used to alert drivers to pedestrians or cars overtaking dangerously.
But tightening EU vehicle safety rules to make new safety kit compulsory was only an option once the equipment was proven and in use in the majority of cars, Liikanen said.