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October 31, 2006
AUTO DESIGN CHANGES URGED AS WAY TO CUT CRASH DEATHS
In a paper being published in the American Journal of Public Health a leading injury epidemiologist has identified key passenger vehicle design factors that, if modified, would cut crash deaths by “more than half” and also substantially reduce fuel consumption.
In his paper, “Commentary: Blood and Oil: Vehicle Characteristics in Relation to Fatality Risk and Fuel Economy,” Dr. Leon Robertson, former senior scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and faculty member at Yale School of Medicine, sums up his findings this way:
I examined the potential for a lower risk of death compatible with increased fuel economy among 67 models of 1999–2002 model year cars, vans, and sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) during the calendar years 2000 to 2004. The odds of death for drivers and all persons killed in vehicle collisions were related to vehicle weight, size, stability, and crashworthiness. I calculated that fatality rates would have been 28% lower and fuel use would have been reduced by 16% if vehicle weights had been reduced to the weight of vehicles with the lowest weight per size, where size is measured by the lateral distance needed to perform a 180-degree turn. If, in addition, all vehicles had crashworthiness and stability equal to those of the top-rated vehicles, more than half the deaths involving passenger cars, vans, and SUVs could have been prevented by vehicle modifications…Although it is doubtful that many vehicle buyers have a precise knowledge of the effect of weight and size on personal and societal risk, most have probably heard that bigger is safer. The advantage to drivers and disadvantage to other road users of increased weight presents a dilemma for the knowledgeable buyer. If informed that greater weight reduces user risk somewhat but increases risk to other road users more, how many would opt for the heavier vehicle? The government has the authority to resolve the issue by regulating vehicle crashworthiness and fuel economy but has made only minor adjustments in the past 20 years. In an attempt to increase fuel economy, Congress in 1975 required each manufacturer to achieve an average of 27.5 miles per gallon for its fleet of passenger cars and light trucks.18 The manufacturer that wishes to market heavier vehicles can maintain the average by also marketing much lighter vehicles. Whereas fuel economy is improved when the miles-per-gallon average is increased, mortality risk is increased by the extent to which variance in average vehicle weight is increased. More sensible fuel economy regulation that would not be adverse to safety could be achieved by setting a standard for minimum fuel economy dependent on vehicle size. Manufacturers would have an incentive to minimize weight in vehicles in a given size category and to use more fuel-efficient engines in larger vehicles. The correlation of increased mortality risk with less than ‘good’ ratings on crash tests suggests that vehicle buyers would reduce their risk of vehicle death by avoiding vehicles with one or more ratings less than ‘good.’
Dr. Robertson’s list of “Vehicles With Lowest Death Rates,” developed for this website, appears in the “For Consumers” section.
Posted by MVHAP at October 31, 2006 02:08 PM