Safer Vehicles. White Papers for: 'Toward Zero Deaths: A National Strategy on Highway Safety'. White Paper No. 4

摘要

Decades of improvements in motor vehicle design, and continuous advances in automotive safety technology have contributed to a steady decline in motor vehicle fatality rates. A number of important, fundamental vehicle safety improvements are long established, and credited with saving thousands of lives. These include collapsible steering columns, laminated windshields, padded dashboards, and crumple zones to absorb/dissipate collision forces. One particularly low-tech approach--the simple safety belt--has perhaps saved more lives and prevented more serious occupant injuries than any other single motor vehicle safety device. During the 5-year period from 2004 to 2008 alone, seat belts are credited with saving over 75,000 lives in the US (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 2009A). Safety belts were later bolstered by frontal airbags, which became a standard safety feature in US automobiles more than a decade ago. According to NHTSA, the combination of a front air bag and a seatbelt reduces the risk of serious crash-related head injury by more than 80 percent. Newly proven safety technologies, such as Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and side curtain airbags, are beginning to penetrate the vehicle fleet in large numbers. The rich history of automotive safety achievements during the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century clearly demonstrates the ability of motor vehicle manufacturers to develop vehicle designs and incorporate vehicle safety features that dramatically reduce the fatality consequences associated with motor vehicle travel.