Pedestrians could be at risk if an 11th hour, hastily-cobbled together car design scheme is adopted, according to a safety chief.

Proper legislation to make car design safer for road users has been discussed for some time. But a last-minute attempt by the car industry to press for an alternative agreement would weaken and reduce years of crash test work, said Jeanne Breen, executive director of the European Transport Safety Council.

Her comments came in a speech at a conference in London organised by the UK's Parliamentary Advisory Committee for Transport Safety. Ms Breen said that the UK had one of the safest records in Europe as far as car occupant deaths were concerned, but one of the worst in relation to pedestrian deaths.

Various trials had shown that new cars performed badly in crash tests in relation to pedestrian safety.

European organisations should heed the work of these tests and should give little credence to an 11th hour hastily-cobbled together industry proposal, said Ms Breen.

She added that the UK's pedestrian death rate was twice that of the Netherlands the best performer of the 15 EU countries.