Computer driven cars?

Cars of today are safer in America than ever before. Are we moving toward computer-driven cars from the advances in computer-operated active safety features?

One of the top factors in choosing a new car is safety, according to J.D. Power's survey of new car buyers.

Manufacturer response to consumer demands and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) passenger protection mandates means safer cars for Americans.

Airbags
The current trend is adding more and smarter airbags. Even affordable sedans are offering a standard six airbags: Two front and four side curtain airbags. Luxury vehicles are doubling the effort with twelve.

New airbag offerings provide multi-stage deployment and passenger detection systems. In the event of a crash, airbags deploy only when a person occupies the seat and in stages for maximum injury protection.

NHTSA estimates airbags have saved nearly 22,500 lives since 1987.

Head restraints
Even lower speed crashes can produce whiplash-type head and neck injuries. Manufacturers offer most vehicles with active head restraints to prevent the backward motion of the head at impact.

While the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) reports quite a few models do not make their highest safety rating, the majority of American cars do.

Vehicle construction
The NHTSA has determined American vehicles have neared the safety ceiling for vehicle construction with the advances in alloys, crumple zones and modified cabin and roll cages.

Most vehicles introduced earn the highest safety rating offered by the NHTSA and IIHS. All vehicle safety construction changes have been made to obtain the NHTSA's five star rating and the IIHS's good rating.

Current research into roof construction will lead to a new NHTSA standard. The next frontier for vehicle safety is crash avoidance.

Vehicle stability
Under NHTSA mandate, all new vehicles must have electronic stability control by 2012. Computer-operated stability control could save as many as 10,000 lives per year and reduce single vehicle crashes by as much as 34 per cent.

Future technology
Since computers react faster than drivers, more active safety features rely on computers.

Lane departure warning systems are being added to some models for the NHTSA to research their efficacy before mandating their installation in all new vehicles.

More complex systems, like collision avoidance systems, are the first baby steps toward computer-driven cars. These vehicles anticipate crashes, close windows and sun roofs and preload brakes.

Slowing cars prior to impact reduces the severity of crashes. Closing of cabin openings, like sun roofs, increases the stability of the cabin, reducing injuries inside.

Read on to find out how these changes are making the safety ratings harder to attain and driving safer.

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How safe is an efficient car?

Wanted: A safe, American-built vehicle with excellent fuel efficiency in 2015.

While this does not sound like a tall request, American automakers have been joined by Oriental and European giants, like Toyota and Volkswagen, in proclaiming they cannot make such a vehicle with a consumer-friendly price tag.

Mandated fuel economy

Proposed Federal fuel economy regulations aims to speed up the schedule for producing fuel efficient cars to combat oil consumption and carbon emissions. Manufacturers are on a slower paced plan.

Since 1975, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program have increased fuel economy in manufacturers' fleets to 27.5 miles per gallon (MPG). Current CAFE regulations are codified in United States Code Title 49, Sub. VI, Part C, Ch. 329. CAFE sets the fuel economy for each year, which increases annually 3.3 per cent.

The proposed amendment would increase that rate to 4.5 per cent. Passenger car and light truck MPG would be 31.6 by 2015.

Safety factor

Manufacturers are balking at the price tag for producing cars with this fuel efficiency. In order to preserve jobs and make a profit, they will need to price these cars above the reach of the average consumer.

No manufacturer has publicly commented it would sacrifice safety for fuel economy, although environmental impact statements (EIS) of current models profess body weight as the biggest deterrent to fuel economy.

Since 1950, manufacturers have striven to improve crashworthiness, the vehicle's ability to survive a crash with its occupants alive or unharmed. Internal safety advances include seat belts and air bags. While those do not impact fuel economy, advanced roll cages, the car's skeleton, are the heaviest components in the car. External advances included bumper systems and crumple zones. These have varied effects on the weight of the vehicle.

Uncrashworthy cars are a liability for owner and manufacturer. When cars do not survive crashes, occupants sue the owners of other vehicles and the auto maker who produced the unsafe car.

Practical fuel economy

Technological advances in fuel economy are the first attack in producing more fuel efficient cars. Manufacturers declare this avenue as exhausted: The engine cannot be more economical.

Aerodynamics are next. Vehicles have smoother lines to resist air drag. Consumers have rejected the most fuel efficient designs as undesirable, even though the cars are economical to drive and safer than most other designs.

There is an undeniable link between weight and crashworthiness. Will fuel economy standards lead to less crashworthy cars?

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Pedestrian Fatalities: When, Who & Why

Let's look at more facts about pedestrian crash fatalities in the United States.

When does it happen?
Every 107 minutes a pedestrian dies from a crash. On average, a pedestrian is struck every 12 minutes, every day.

New Year’s Day and Halloween account for the highest number of pedestrian fatalities, consistently 20%. The third day has changed from December 23 to December 1. October, November and December account for 32% of all pedestrian crashes.

Weekends are deadliest for pedestrians. More than 45% of all pedestrian crashes occur on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with nearly 18% occurring on Saturday.

Three hours pedestrians should stay off the road are 6-9 p.m., when 25% of the deaths occur. Another 21% happen between 9 p.m. and midnight. Only 6% happen between 9 a.m. and noon. Darkness is considered the number one factor.

Who gets killed?
More than 33,000 men were killed. Even though men represent 49% of the American population, they are killed in pedestrian crashes 69% of the time.

60% of pedestrians killed are white and 15% black. American Indian, Pacific Islanders and Asian represent another 5%. 19% of the deaths were determined to be of unknown race, based on corresponding death certificates.

Contrary to public perception, children under 16 only account for 10% of pedestrian deaths each year, even though children make up 21% of the American population.

People over 65 represent 13% of the population, yet represent 21% of the pedestrian fatalities. Different factors cited in this anomaly are frailty, poorer mobility and poorer eyesight.

Why does it happen?
In most cases, the pedestrian has to bear some of the blame for the crash. Their actions are represented by the following statistics:

Percentage/Action
27.3 Improperly crossed the street
25.4 Walked against the traffic flow
13.9 Failed to yield the right of way
12.1 Darted into the flow of traffic
9.8 Not visible to the driver
2.6 Were inattentive to traffic
1.5 Failed to obey traffic control

More than one-fourth of the deaths occurred because the pedestrian crossed the street improperly. Another fourth of all pedestrian deaths were attributed to walking, working or playing near the road. Nearly 14% of the crashes were caused by the pedestrian failing to yield to the vehicle.



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Pedestrian Fatalities: On the decrease & Where

What do New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix and Houston have in common? More pedestrian deaths than all other cities in the United States.

Pedestrian deaths are on the decline. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration commissioned a ten year study to examine the trends in crashes resulting in pedestrian deaths.

Twelve percent of all vehicle crash deaths are pedestrians. This means they are not occupants of a vehicle, motorcycle riders or bicycle riders: they are on foot.

The study, authored by Dow Chang, Ph.D. and P.E., revealed trends in those killed and the conditions under which they were killed.

• Men are more likely to be killed as pedestrians than women.
• January 1 and October 31 were the deadliest days of the year.
• People over the age of 64 are more likely to be killed as pedestrians.
• Blood alcohol content (BAC) increase the probability of dying as a pedestrian.
• 58% of pedestrian deaths are not in a crosswalk.
• Most pedestrian fatality crashes occur between 6 and 9 p.m., on Friday or Saturday, under sleet conditions and/or in the dark.

A look at the numbers
Between 1997 and 2007, the number of pedestrian deaths decreased from 5,321 to 4,784, representing a decrease of nearly 10%. Pedestrians are the only group of people whose fatality statistics have declined. They represent 12% of all fatalities in vehicle crashes.

While this sounds like good news, the chances of being killed has increased. In 1997, the chances a pedestrian would be killed in a crash was 5.3%. By 2006, that chance increased to 7.1%.

What did not change over the decade was the number of pedestrians killed in single vehicle crashes. Ten times more pedestrians are killed each year by single vehicles than those killed by multiple car crashes.

Where does it happen?
You already read about the top five cities, but there is more. Cities do account for 67% of the fatalities, but 87% of the cities in the United States do not report any fatalities. More than 90% of the cities which did have fatalities had nine or fewer. Less than 1% of cities had over 100 pedestrian fatalities.

Pedestrians are not being killed on the Interstate highway system, which forbids pedestrian travel. Nor are they on interstate highway roads (10%) or expressways (only 4%), instead 51% of pedestrians are killed on major traffic arteries around and inside cities. Local roads and streets accounted for another 30%.

The top five states are New Mexico, Florida and Arizona, with Washington D.C. and Nevada tied. Per capita, these states average more than 2.5 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 population.

Tomorrow we will look into when these crashes happen, to whom and why.


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