New rollover protection measures demonstrate DOT's commitment to safety

Here's an unpleasant truth: vehicle rollover crashes can be horrific events. Thankfully, we have a new way of protecting passengers from harm should a rollover occur.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued tough, new roof standards that will significantly strengthen vehicle roof structures and improve rollover crash protection. The new regulation doubles the current roof strength requirement for light vehicles. Both the driver and passenger sides of the roof must be capable of withstanding a force equal to three times the vehicle's weight.

This new standard is part of an ongoing effort here at DOT to fulfill our number one goal: safety. Safety on our roadways. Safety on our railways. Safety on our waterways. And, safety in the airways.

In light of this goal, I have to say that although these new standards go a long way toward reducing deaths, the single most effective approach to passenger safety in a rollover crash is to buckle up. Safety belts are a passenger's best defense against the violent motion and possible ejection that commonly cause rollover injuries. No degree of safety standards, no number of regulations, can protect an unbuckled passenger from the chaos of a rollover crash.

It's that simple.

So, please take a look at our new rule at the NHTSA website, and please make sure you and your loved ones buckle up.

Comments

[Murray Bodin]

Thanks for the NHTSA link. I sent a comment. I hope someone reads it.

[matt]

While I certainly respect the efforts for safety, I would like to offer an opinion for a different approach.

The clear path to safer roads is improved driver training. If we could teach drivers to understand the rules of the road and to properly and predictably communicate their intentions to other drivers, there would be drastically fewer collisions every day. There would also be less anger and stress for everyone on the road, hopefully allowing us all to live longer. If we would also take the time to teach drivers how to safely handle a vehicle that has a blowout or is in a low traction situation, there would be far fewer chances of a rollover crash. If a driver had the opportunity to put a vehicle into a high speed slide on a wet roadway during his driver training, he wouldn't panic when he hydroplanes on the highway. If he's able to react calmly and go through practiced moves when a situation arises, he will most likely emerge from that situation safely instead of having to rely on crash protection to keep him out of the hospital. Just think of the millions of dollars that could be saved each year on medical and repair bills.

The additional crash protection regulations that we put in place actually have the opposite of the intended effect when you look at some other people on the road. All of these regulations have one thing in common. They all make vehicles heavier. It's getting difficult just to find a 4-door car under 3000 pounds! A heavy car just cannot stop as well as a light car. It cannot turn as well either. The mechanism by which a tire grips the road simply will not allow it.

Consider cyclists on city streets. They're the most socially and environmentally conscious travelers among us. They give up the luxury, speed, and convenience of powered vehicles for the sake of our air, our international relations, and our city congestion. And thanks to the safety regulations, that sedan that ran the red light won't be able to stop in time to not kill the man biking to work. Had the manufacturer not been required to add airbags and reinforced side impact beams and additional rollover protection, he might have been able to stop in time. Better yet, if he'd had better driver training, he might not have run the light or would have been aware enough to notice the bicycle that might enter his path. The same goes for pedestrians and motorcyclists. Heavier vehicles put all of us at risk.

That's not even going into the effect that these heavier vehicles have on our fuel use and it's effects on environment and dependence on foreign oil. You also must consider the huge barriers to market entry that over-regulation creates for the auto industry. Many new and innovative ideas are technically illegal thanks to the non-robust way that the NHTSA's regulations are written. An inventor with a great new idea doesn't have the money or the power to get the law changed, and so he goes and finds something else to do. If you paid attention to the Shell Eco-marathon in California a few weeks ago, you saw a car get nearly 3000 miles per gallon on regular gasoline. These kind of numbers are common at those competitions, and they're accomplished by students on shoe-string budgets! Just imagine what could happen if the NHTSA would loosen its requirements or create a non-regulated class of four wheeled vehicle. Cars like these could be on the streets today.

[Richard Campbell]

Great news.

It would also be a good time to look into measures to protect cyclists and pedestrians.

For example, here is an article about some technology that prevents cyclists from being injured by car doors opening in front of them.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16895-intelligent-car-door-clams-up-when-dangers-about.html

Some other measures include:

Mandatory Rear Sideguards on Trucks and Buses – Reduces risk to cyclists in low-speed collisions

Limiting Acceleration – Vehicles with excessive rates of acceleration can encourage aggressive driving and decrease the effectiveness of traffic calming

Motor Vehicle Advertising – Standards to prevent advertising showing vehicles being operated in an unsafe manner

Measures to Lessen Injuries – Design changes to reduce cyclists and pedestrian injuries resulting from collisions

Elimination of Blind Spots – Decreases the risk of collisions

Limits to Vehicle Width – Allows safer passing of cyclists and decreases chances of dooring

Limits Vehicle Weight – Decreased weight reduce risk of injury and can reduce stopping distances while increasing fuel economy

Warning Messages in Vehicles – Messages in vehicles to warn users of the risks of unsafe vehicle operation. It works on cigarette packaging.

[Andrew]

I have a neck condition that is most often caused by a roof line that is to low causing passengers and drivers to lie back and rotate their heads forward (bad posture). When you hit a bump your spine doesn't absorb the impact and after a number of years you develop spinal damage. How about regulation to prevent that. As cars become smaller and less wind resistant more and more people are suffering such injuries (the number of injuries is in the millions) and there isn't even a warning on the package that small, high mpg vehicles "may be hazardous to your health".

[Alex Campbell]

I completely agree with Matt about the need to minimize the risks of cyclists from opening car doors. Both my friend and I have survived nearly serious bike accidents resulting exactly from opening doors - both on the driver and passenger sides. I don't know exactly what percentage of accidents like this are due to blind spots as opposed to inattentiveness, but here's an article that can help drivers set their mirrors to avoid blind spots.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/10q1/how_to_adjust_your_mirrors_to_avoid_blind_spots-feature

I'm pretty sure this could be helpful to any driver, but I'm not sure if this is going to make an impact on bicycling safety. A sensor that can detect an approaching bike would be better. Hopefully something like this will be available soon (if not already out), because bike - car door collisions happen very often in NYC and probably discourage people from choosing to bike more regularly.