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ESC is becoming a high-tech seatbelt
When enough vehicles are fitted with electronic stability controls (ESCs) they could prove as important as seatbelts for cutting the road toll. A study by Monash University Accident Research Centre has found ESC reduces the likelihood of a single vehicle crash in an ordinary car by 25% and in a 4WD by up to 51%.
The figures are supported by experience in Europe and North America where insurance companies are now looking with particular favour on vehicles fitted with ESC. North America’s Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has just increased from 13 to 34 the number of car models it awards its highest safety rating—simply because the vehicles have stability controls.
(ESCs use sophisticated computer systems to modulate a car’s breaks and engine power to keep a vehicle travelling along its intended path rather than skidding. Often this is enough to stop a crash.)
In Europe, the European Commission is now moving to have all new trucks and tourist coaches fitted with ESCs after calculating such systems could reduce the road death toll by 500 annually as well as reduce serious injuries by 2500.
According to a media statement, the Monash research was the first to investigate the “real world” performance of ESCs in reducing crash risks in Australia and New Zealand.
The researchers analysed the crash patterns of 7700 ESC equipped vehicles manufactured between 1997 and 2005 that had been involved in crashes between 2001 and 2005. They then compared the results with the crash patterns of 203,000 other vehicles without ESCs fitted during a similar period.
As well as finding a reduced risk of single vehicle crashes among vehicles fitted with ESCs, the researchers also discovered far fewer ESC-fitted vehicles were involved in crashes in which drivers were injured. In the case of cars, the ESC-fitted vehicles were involved in 28% fewer driver injuries and in the case of ESC-fitted 4WDs 66% fewer drivers were injured.
According to Dr Soames Job, director of the NSW Centre for Road Safety, about 40% of new vehicles in Australia and New Zealand were now fitted with ESCs. “The research lends greater weight to our long-term goal of having ESC incorporated into all new vehicles sold in Australia,” Dr Job said.
The scan also showed:
Sleeping on the job
Driving fatigue is still very much a problem among Australia’s long-distance truck drivers. Psychologists at Monash University have just completed a study of interstate truckies and found that over a period of three months, one in three reported falling asleep at the wheel. “We found evidence to support the long-held beliefs that truck drivers are under enormous pressure to meet delivery deadlines and these combined with their own perceptions on work performance can lead to continued driving regardless of how sleepy the driver feels,” said Ray Misa, who co-authored the study. “Drivers rated work regulations such as maintenance of logbooks and other organisational requirements as the greatest contributor to continuing to drive, this was closely followed by the need to meet schedules and deadlines. This was compounded by their inability to make a decision to stop and rest.”
Training for road safety
The US Transportation Research Board, part of the country’s peak science group the National Academy of Sciences, wants America’s road safety professionals given far higher status. In a special report, “Building the Road Safety Profession in the Public Sector”, the board argues for a more science-based approach to road safety management and says road safety staff need more science training. “The lack of professional recognition and comprehensive road safety education and training opportunities is threatening the ability of public agencies to build the knowledgeable and skilled road safety workforce that is needed to make safety advances,” the report says. It wants universities to offer degrees in road safety as well as “one or more” specialised institutes to be established to “provide comprehensive instruction and training for road safety professionals”.
Drug rentals
Just at a time when concern is growing about the number of drivers using drugs, American researchers have uncovered a new phenomenon linking drugs with car rentals. Researchers at the University of Alabama have discovered that growing numbers of crack cocaine users are renting out their cars in exchange for drugs. There is even a name for the practice: “rock rentals” and according to the researchers it is a cheaper alternative to cash payments. The researchers found that on average, addicts lent their cars for three to four hours in exchange for drugs, although some lent cars out overnight or over a weekend. Most addicts reported being selective and only renting to family members and friends who sold drugs, or to dealers they trusted. Researchers say that one reason for the growing popularity of rock rentals in the US is that crack cocaine is cheap to produce. Consequently distribution of the drug is in reach of street-savvy youths who may not own cars.
Give silver the bullet?
Australia’s growing preference for silver cars could worsen the road toll according to Dr Stuart Newstead, a researcher at Monash University’s Accident Research Centre. He says recent studies show that silver cars have a higher crash risk and moreover silver is now the most popular choice for new cars. Dr Newstead said a recent Monash study had shown that when compared with “safe” white cars, silver ones had a 10% greater chance of being involved in a crash. (The colour that carried the greatest risk was black at 12%.) “It concerns me that silver has now surpassed white as the most popular choice for new vehicles,” he said. “The safest car colour has now been replaced by one of the least safe.” Dr Newstead said the trouble with silver was that even in good conditions, it had a low contrast with the road environment. “That lack of visibility is even worse in fading light or cloudy and wet conditions,” he says. “Less visibility means less time for other drivers to react to an impending accident situation which leads to more crashes and higher severity crashes for drivers of silver cars.” Dr Newstead suggests that people with silver cars install and use daytime running lights, or drive with their headlights on.
Storm warnings
England’s Highways Agency has just introduced a severe weather alert system designed just for truck drivers. The warnings will be issued by radio and the Internet and if a “red alert” is broadcast, drivers will be asked to immediately leave motorways and major trunk roads and find somewhere safe to park. The system may sound extreme, but its introduction was prompted by the damage caused to trucks when severe storms hit Britain in January 2007. So strong were the winds that 48 trucks were blown over. According to the Highways Agency, the system of alerts will be targeted at specific stretches of the motorways and trunk road system in areas and regions where there is an “absolute certainty” that severe weather will occur. For more information visit the Traffic Radio website.
Transport injuries
Visit an Australian hospital and on any one-day 12% of the injuries being treated are likely to have been caused by a transport incident. A report just published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has used figures collected during 2003–04 to provide a broad overview of the country’s transport injuries. It has found that males have 2.2 times the rate of serious injury in transport “accidents” as females (330 per 100,000 population compared with 152 per 100,000). More than a third of all victims suffered their injuries as car occupants; 22% were motorcyclists and 16.5% of those in hospital got their injuries when riding a bicycle. Interestingly 54% of those cyclists were injured when riding off-road. Of the other people in hospital beds, 7.7% were pedestrians and 6.3% were “animal riders or occupants of an animal-drawn vehicle.”
Train numbers
Although trains may be five times safer to travel in than cars* people still get killed and injured using them. Researchers working for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare have been examining the statistics to provide a national overview of serious non-fatal injuries involving trains with some surprising results. Over the five year study period (1999–00 to 2003–04) they counted 1032 people seriously injured with the largest number, 427, in NSW closely followed by Victoria with 367. WA’s total was 37. The two most populous states accounted for three-quarters (76.9%) of the serious injuries requiring hospitalisation. Nationally, about half the people hurt suffered injuries getting on and off the train, falling inside the train or falling from the train. In WA such injuries accounted for closer to a quarter of the number. (Exact WA figures are not available because the report omits figures in categories when they total less than five.) In fact in WA the largest single number of injuries occur not among rail passengers but to pedestrians or occupants of vehicles in collision with trains. Again the exact figures are not available because in some of the categories less than five people were involved.
