Automobile safety is the study and practice of vehicle design,
construction, and equipment to minimize the occurrence and consequences
of automobile accidents. (Road traffic safety more broadly includes
roadway design. One of the first formal academic studies into improving
car safety was by Cornell Aeronautical Labs of Buffalo, New York. The
main conclusion of their extensive report is the crucial importance of
seat belts and padded dashboards.
Improvements in roadway and automobile designs have steadily reduced
injury and death rates in all first world countries. Nevertheless, auto
collisions are the leading cause of injury-related deaths, an estimated
total of 1.2 million in 2004, or 25% of the total from all causes. Risk
compensation limits the improvement that can be made, often leading to
reduced safety where one might expect the opposite.
Occupational driving
Work-related roadway crashes are the leading cause of death from
traumatic injuries in the U.S. workplace. They accounted for nearly
12,000 deaths between 1992 and 2000. Deaths and injuries from these
roadway crashes result in increased costs to employers and lost
productivity in addition to their toll in human suffering. Truck
drivers tend to endure higher fatality rates than workers in other
occupations, but concerns about motor vehicle safety in the workplace
are not limited to those surrounding the operation of large trucks.
Workers outside the motor carrier industry routinely operate
company-owned vehicles for deliveries, sales and repair calls, client
visits etc. In these instances, the employer providing the vehicle
generally plays a major role in setting safety, maintenance, and
training policy. As in non-occupational driving, young drivers are
especially at risk. In the workplace, 45% of all fatal injuries to
workers under age 18 between 1992 and 2000 in the United States resulted
from transportation incidents.
Active and passive safety
The terms "active" and "passive" are simple but important terms in the world of automotive safety. "Active safety" is used to refer to technology assisting in the prevention of a crash and "passive safety" to components of the vehicle (primarily airbags, seatbelts and the physical structure of the vehicle) that help to protect occupants during a crash.Crash avoidance
Crash avoidance systems and devices help the driver — and, increasingly, help the vehicle itself — to avoid a collision. This category includes:- The vehicle's headlamps, reflectors, and other lights and signals
- The vehicle's mirrors
- The vehicle's brakes, steering, and suspension systems
- Driver assistance
- Automatic Braking systems to prevent or reduce the severity of collision.
- Infrared night vision systems to increase seeing distance beyond headlamp range
- Adaptive headlamps control the direction and range of the headlight beams to light the driver's way through curves and maximize seeing distance without glaring other drivers
- Reverse backup sensors, which alert drivers to difficult-to-see objects in their path when reversing
- Backup camera
- Adaptive cruise control which maintains a safe distance from the vehicle in front
- Lane departure warning systems to alert the driver of an unintended departure from the intended lane of travel
- Tire pressure monitoring systems or Deflation Detection Systems
- Traction control systems which restore traction if driven wheels begin to spin
- Electronic Stability Control, which intervenes to avert an impending loss of control
- Anti-lock braking systems
- Electronic brakeforce distribution systems
- Emergency brake assist systems
- Cornering Brake Control systems
- Precrash system
- Automated parking system
Crashworthiness
Crashworthy systems and devices prevent or reduce the severity of
injuries when a crash is imminent or actually happening. Much research
is carried out using anthropomorphic crash test dummies.
- Seatbelts limit the forward motion of an occupant, stretch to absorb energy, to lengthen the time of the occupant's deceleration in a crash, reducing the loading on the occupants body. They prevent occupants being ejected from the vehicle and ensure that they are in the correct position for the operation of the airbags.
- Airbags inflate to cushion the impact of a vehicle occupant with various parts of the vehicle's interior. The most important being the prevention of direct impact of the driver's head with the steering wheel and door pillar.
- Laminated windshields remain in one piece when impacted, preventing penetration of unbelted occupants' heads and maintaining a minimal but adequate transparency for control of the car immediately following a collision. It is also a bonded structural part of the safety cell. Tempered glass side and rear windows break into granules with minimally sharp edges, rather than splintering into jagged fragments as ordinary glass does.
- Crumple zones absorb and dissipate the force of a collision, displacing and diverting it away from the passenger compartment and reducing the deceleration impact force on the vehicle occupants. Vehicles will include a front, rear and maybe side crumple zones (like Volvo SIPS) too.
- Safety Cell - the passenger compartment is reinforced with high strength materials, at places subject high loads in a crash, in order to maintain a survival space for the vehicle occupants.
- Side impact protection beams.
- Collapsible universally jointed steering columns, along with steering wheel airbag. The steering system is mounted behind the front axle - behind and protected by, the front crumple zone. This reduces the risk and severity of driver impact or even impalement on the column in a frontal crash.
- Pedestrian protection systems.
- Padding of the instrument panel and other interior parts, on the vehicle in areas likely to be struck by the occupants during a crash, and the careful placement of mounting brackets away from those areas.
- Cargo barriers are sometimes fitted to provide a physical barrier between passenger and cargo compartments in vehicles such as SUVs, station wagons and vans. These help prevent injuries caused by occupants being struck by unsecured cargo. They can also help prevent collapse of the roof in the event of a vehicle rollover.
Post-crash survivability
Post-crash survivability is the chance that you can survive a crash after it occurs.Pedestrian safety
Conspicuity
Lights and reflectors
Automotive lighting
Vehicles are equipped with a variety of lights and reflectors to mark
their presence, position, width, length, and direction of travel as
well as to convey the driver's intent and actions to other drivers.
These include the vehicle's headlamps, front and rear position lamps,
side marker lights and reflectors, turn signals, stop (brake) lamps, and
reversing lamps. School buses and Semi-trailer trucks in North America
are required to bear retroreflective strips outlining their side and
rear perimeters for greater conspicuity at night. Daytime running lamps have been required in Nordic countries since the mid-1970s, in Canada since 1990, and throughout the European Union since 7 February 2011.
Vehicle colour
A Swedish study found that pink cars are involved in the fewest and black cars are involved in the most crashes (Land transport NZ 2005).
In Auckland New Zealand, a study found that there was a significantly
lower rate of serious injury in silver cars; with higher rates in
brown, black, and green cars. (Furness et al., 2003)
The Vehicle Colour Study, conducted by Monash University Accident
Research Centre (MUARC) and published in 2007, analysed 855,258
accidents occurring between 1987 and 2004 in the Australian states of
Victoria and Western Australia that resulted in injury or in a vehicle
being towed away. The study analysed risk by light condition. It found
that in daylight black cars were 12% more likely than white to be
involved in an accident, followed by grey cars at 11%, silver cars at
10%, and red and blue cars at 7%, with no other colours found to be
significantly more or less risky than white. At dawn or dusk the risk
ratio for black cars jumped to 47% more likely than white, and that for
silver cars to 15%. In the hours of darkness only red and silver cars
were found to be significantly more risky than white, by 10% and 8%
respectively.
History
Automobile safety may have become an issue almost from the beginning
of mechanised road vehicle development. The second steam-powered
"Fardier" (artillery tractor), created by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1771,
is reported by some to have crashed into a wall during its
demonstration run. However according to Georges Ageon, the earliest
mention of this occurrence dates from 1801 and it does not feature in
contemporary accounts.
One of the earliest recorded automobile fatalities was Mary Ward, on August 31, 1869 in Parsonstown, Ireland.
In the 1930s, plastic surgeon Claire L. Straith and physician C. J.
Strickland advocated the use of seat belts and padded dashboards.
Strickland founded the Automobile Safety League of America.
In 1934, GM performed the first barrier crash test.
In 1937, Chrysler, Plymouth, DeSoto, and Dodge added such items as a
flat, smooth dash with recessed controls, rounded door handles, and the
back of the front seat heavily padded to provide protection for rear
passengers .
In 1942, Hugh DeHaven published the classic Mechanical analysis of survival in falls from heights of fifty to one hundred and fifty feet.
In 1947 the American Tucker was built with the world's first padded dashboard.
In 1949 SAAB incorporated aircraft safety thinking into automobiles
making the Saab 92 the first production SAAB car with a safety cage.
In 1955 a USAF surgeon who advised the US Surgeon General wrote an
article on how to make cars safer for those riding in it. Aside from the
usual safety features, such as seat belts and padded dash boards,
bumper shocks were introduced.
In 1956, Ford tried unsuccessfully to interest Americans in
purchasing safer cars with their Lifeguard safety package. (Its attempt
nevertheless earns Ford Motor Trend's "Car of the Year" award for 1956.)
In 1958, the United Nations established the World Forum for
Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, an international standards body
advancing auto safety. Many of the most life saving safety
innovations,
like seat belts and roll cage construction were brought to market under
its auspices. That same year, Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin invented and
patented the three-point lap and shoulder seat belt, which became
standard equipment on all Volvo cars in 1959. Over the next several
decades, three-point safety belts were gradually mandated in all
vehicles by regulators throughout the industrialised world.
In 1966, the U.S. established the United States Department of
Transportation (DOT) with automobile safety one of its purposes. The
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was created as an
independent organization on April 1, 1967, but was reliant on the DOT
for administration and funding. However, in 1975 the organization was
made completely independent by the Independent Safety Board Act (in P.L.
93-633; 49 U.S.C. 1901).
Volvo developed the first rear-facing child seat in 1964 and introduced its own booster seat in 1978.
In 1979, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) began crash-testing popular cars and publishing the results, to
inform consumers and encourage manufacturers to improve the safety of
their vehicles. Initially, the US NCAP crash tests examined compliance
with the occupant-protection provisions of FMVSS 208. Over the
subsequent years, this NHTSA program was gradually expanded in scope. In
1997, the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) was
established to test new vehicles' safety performance and publish the
results for vehicle shoppers' information. The NHTSA crash tests are
presently operated and published as the U.S. branch of the international
NCAP programme.
In 1984, New York State passed the first US law requiring seat belt use in passenger cars. Seat belt laws have since been adopted by all 50 states, except for New Hampshire. and NHTSA estimates increased seat belt use as a result save 10,000 per year in the USA.
In 1986, the central 3rd brake light was mandated in North America. Over the next 15 years, most of the world's other jurisdictions mandated the 3rd brake lamp as well.
In 1995, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) began frontal offset crash tests.
In 1997, EuroNCAP was founded.
In 2003, the IIHS began conducting side impact crash tests.
In 2004, NHTSA released new tests designed to test the rollover risk of new cars and SUVs. Only the Mazda RX-8 got a 5-star rating.
In 2009, Citroën became the first manufacturer to feature "Snowmotion", an Intelligent Anti Skid system developed in conjunction with Bosch, which gives drivers a level of control in extreme ice or snow conditions similar to a 4x4
Safety trends
Despite technological advances, about 40,000 people die every year in the U.S. Although the fatality rates per vehicle registered and per vehicle distance travelled have steadily decreased since the advent of significant vehicle and driver regulation, the raw number of fatalities generally increases as a function of rising population and more vehicles on the road. However, sharp rises in the price of fuel and related driver behavioural changes are reducing 2007-8 highway fatalities in the U.S. to below the 1961 fatality count. Litigation has been central in the struggle to mandate safer cars.- International comparison
In 1996, the U.S. had about 2 deaths per 10,000 motor vehicles,
compared to 1.9 in Germany, 2.6 in France, and 1.5 in the UK. In 1998,
there were 3,421 fatal accidents in the UK, the fewest since 1926; in
2010 this number was further reduced to 1,857 and was attributed to the
09/10 scrappage scheme.
The sizable traffic safety lead enjoyed by the USA since the 1960s
had narrowed significantly by 2002, with the US improvement percentages
lagging in 16th place behind those of Australia, Austria, Canada,
Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Japan, Luxembourg,
the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland in terms
of deaths per thousand vehicles, while in terms of deaths per 100
million vehicle miles travelled, the USA had dropped from first place to
tenth place. Government-collected data, such as that from the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System, show other countries achieving safety performance improvements over time greater than those achieved in the U.S.:
| 1979 Fatalities | 2002 Fatalities | Percent Change | |
| United States | 51,093 | 42,815 | -16.2% |
| Great Britain | 6,352 | 3,431 | -46.0% |
| Canada | 5,863 | 2,936 | -49.9% |
| Australia | 3,508 | 1,715 | -51.1% |
Research on the trends in use of heavy vehicles indicate that a
significant difference between the U.S. and other countries is the
relatively high prevalence of pickup trucks and SUVs in the U.S. A 2003
study by the U.S. Transportation Research Board found that SUVs and
pickup trucks are significantly less safe than passenger cars, that
imported-brand vehicles tend to be safer than American-brand vehicles,
and that the size and weight of a vehicle has a significantly smaller
effect on safety than the quality of the vehicle's engineering. The
level of large commercial truck traffic has substantially increased
since the 1960s, while highway capacity has not kept pace with the
increase in large commercial truck traffic on U.S. highways. However,
other factors exert significant influence; Canada has lower roadway
death and injury rates despite a vehicle mix comparable to that of the
U.S. Nevertheless, the widespread use of truck-based vehicles as
passenger carriers is correlated with roadway deaths and injuries not
only directly by dint of vehicular safety performance per se, but
also indirectly through the relatively low fuel costs that facilitate
the use of such vehicles in North America; motor vehicle fatalities
decline as fuel prices increase.
NHTSA has issued relatively few regulations since the mid 1980s; most of the vehicle-based reduction in vehicle fatality rates in the U.S. during the last third of the 20th Century were gained by the initial NHTSA safety standards issued from 1968 to 1984 and subsequent voluntary changes in vehicle design and construction by vehicle manufacturers.
Issues for particular demographic groups
Pregnant women
When pregnant, women should continue to use seatbelts and airbags properly. A University of Michigan study found that "unrestrained or improperly restrained pregnant women are 5.7 times more likely to have an adverse fatal outcome than properly restrained pregnant women". If seatbelts are not long enough, extensions are available from the car manufacturer or an aftermarket supplier.Infants and children
Children present significant challenges in engineering and producing safe vehicles, because most children are significantly smaller and lighter than most adults. Safety devices and systems designed and optimised to protect adults — particularly calibration-sensitive devices like airbags and active seat belts — can be ineffective or hazardous to children. In recognition of this, many medical professionals and jurisdictions recommend or require that children under a particular age, height, and/or weight ride in a child seat and/or in the back seat, as applicable. In Sweden, for instance, a child or an adult shorter than 140 cm is legally forbidden to ride in a place with an active airbag in front of it.Child safety locks and driver-controlled power window lockout controls prevent children from opening doors and windows from inside the vehicle.
- Infants left in cars
Teenage drivers
In the UK, a full driving licence can be had at age 17, and most areas in the United States will issue a full driver's license at the age of 16, and all within a range between 14 and 18. In addition to being relatively inexperienced, teen drivers are also cognitively immature, compared to other drivers. This combination leads to a relatively high crash rate among this demographic.In some areas, new drivers' vehicles must bear a warning sign to alert other drivers that the vehicle is being driven by an inexperienced and learning driver, giving them opportunity to be more cautious and to encourage other drivers to give novices more leeway. In the US New Jersey has Kyleigh's Law citing that teen drivers must have a decal on their vehicle.
Some countries, such as Australia, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, have graduated levels of driver's licence, with special rules. By 2010, all US states required a graduated driver's licence for drivers under age 18. In Italy, the maximum speed and power of vehicles driven by new drivers is restricted. In Romania, the maximum speed of vehicles driven by new drivers (less than one year in experience) is 20 km/h lower than the national standard (except villages, towns and cities). Many U.S. states allow 18-year-olds to skip some requirements that younger drivers would face, which statistics show may be causing higher accident rates among new drivers. New Jersey has the same requirements for new drivers up to the age of 21, which may obviate this problem.
Elderly
Insurance statistics in the United States indicate a 30% increase in the number of elderly killed, comparing 1975 to 2000. Several states require additional testing for elderly drivers. On a per-driver basis, the number of fatal and overall crashes decreases with age, with some exceptions for drivers over 75. The overall trend may be due to greater experience and avoiding driving in adverse conditions. However, on a per-miles-travelled basis, drivers younger than 25-30 and older than 65-70 have significantly higher accident rates. Survivability of crashes decreases monotonically with the age of the victim.A common problem for the elderly is the question of when a medical condition or biological aging presents a serious enough problem that one should stop driving. In some cases, this means giving up some personal independence, but in urban areas often means relying more on public transportation. Many transit systems offer discounted fares to seniors, and some local governments run "senior shuttles" specifically targeted at this demographic.
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