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Safe car design becomes a global issue
Global agreements are not easily made these days but there is one that has just been agreed that could have a profound effect on future road traffic safety. For the first time, international agreement has been reached on a standard specification for manufacturing certain car components - in particular car door locks and car door retention components. If all goes smoothly, it will be the first of hundreds of others that will become the basis for certifying road vehicles in almost every country in the world.
The first new "Global Technical Regulation" (GTR) was passed in Geneva by the United Nations World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations - an organisation representing almost all the car manufacturing countries including the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the European Union. Individual countries have to ratify each GTR but manufacturers who stand to gain considerable benefit from such standardisation are hoping that ratifications will be a formality.
According to the UN, the first GTR is designed to introduce a world safety standard to prevent car doors opening unexpectedly - particularly as a result of a crash.
"Inadvertent door openings are often caused by a combination of forces during a crash, which result in structural failures of the latch system and hinges," the UN said in a briefing paper. "In the US alone, about 42,000 door openings or failures occur every year. Door openings present a risk of serious injury or death to vehicle occupants, particularly if they are unbelted. This GTR will avoid a large number of door openings and thus will reduce the risk of occupant ejections."
In fact according to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the new GTR will strengthen safety requirements and test procedures not just for standard cars but for mini-vans with sliding doors and room for up to 15 passengers - a type used extensively in developing countries.
"The new door retention standard is the result of three years of intensive research, development and negotiations," said the administration's CEO Jeffrey Runge. "On the horizon are many additional standards that would regulate head restraints, motorcycle brakes, the installation of lighting devices, vehicle window glazing and pedestrian safety.
This pioneering achievement paves the way for future vehicle improvements for motorists around the world."
Manufactures are also supportive. Professor Bernd Gottschalk who heads the International Organisation of Motor Vehicle Manufactures said the introduction of such global standards would enable new technologies to be introduced more cost-effectively.
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Licence limitations
Australia's new National Road Safety Action Plan (See: "New targets" below) suggests that there could be scope for introducing a form of "graduated exit" licence to phase elderly drivers off the roads. As part of the comprehensive action plan for the next two years, it gives high priority to examining the options for such a system. Concepts for such licences have existed for some years.
They could include night driving curfews, limitations on the length of travel, and restrictions on what roads the licence holder could use. In 1997 Monash University's Accident Research Centre published a paper on the idea suggesting the cost of administering such a scheme could be higher than any benefits. "... it would require regular re-licence testing for all older drivers which is likely to be very costly and with questionable cost-beneficial savings," said the author Brian Fildes.
"Furthermore, the cost of administering such a scheme is likely to be even greater, given the range of tests necessary and the many administrative procedures required. Enforcement of many of the restrictions, too, would be difficult and this raises questions about the level of compliance. Finally, the system would be difficult to manage and would induce devious practices if it was not nationally consistent."
The South Australian Road Safety Advisory Council is an advocate for researching graduated licences. It said in a submission before the latest action plan was published, that to cope with the rising numbers of aging drivers, new initiatives were needed to prevent an increase in road casualties. But the council suggests that if a graduated licence were introduced it should not only cover the elderly but any motorist with impaired driving abilities.
New targets
Australia's transport ministers have adopted a new target to cut the rate of road fatalities to 5.6 per 100,000 population by 2010 - a 40% reduction on current levels. The new figure was announced with publication of the new National Road Safety Action Plan for 2005 and 2006.
The new plan emphasises a "safe system" approach as the overarching framework for road safety intervention. "The key components of the system are safer roads and roadsides (infrastructure), safer speeds and safer vehicles," says an introduction to the plan. "The combined effects of action taken in these areas will critically influence the number of road fatalities and serious injuries over the rest of this decade - and beyond."
