EXPERTS DISAGREE ON WHAT IS NEEDED IN AUTO SAFETY

THE INCREASED INTEREST IN SAFETY AND NATIONAL SAFETY STANDARDS FOR AUTOMOBILES HAVE BROUGHT INTO FOCUS SOME OF THE PROBLEMS WHICH BESET THIS FIELD. AS IN MANY OTHER AREAS, THE EXPERTS DO NOT AGREE. ONE GROUP SAYS THAT MANY IMPROVEMENTS IN DESIGN ARE NOT BEING APPLIED RAPIDLY ENOUGH, BUT THE OTHER GROUP FEELS THAT NEW STANDARDS WILL HAVE TO BE BASED ON A DEMONSTRABLE NEED, BACKED BY MORE RESEARCH AND MORE DATA. SOME AUTHORITIES BELIEVE THAT EXISTING FEDERAL STANDARDS ARE IN AN EVOLUTIONARY STAGE AND WILL IMPROVE. WHAT IS NEEDED NOST, ACCORDING TO ONE GROUP IS SOME KIND OF YARDSTICK WHICH WILL PROVIDE STANDARD-MAKERS WITH A PRIORITY SYSTEM. APPLIED TO CAR DESIGN, THIS YARDSTICK COULD MEASURE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY STANDARDS AND THE HARDWARE DESIGNED TO MEET THEM. ALSO NEEDED ARE BETTER MATHEMATICAL MODELS OF VEHICLES, DRIVER-VEHICLE INTERACTION, AND CRASH- SAFETY EFFECTIVENESS. FROM THESE MODELS WILL BE DEVELOPED FULL SIZED EXPERIMENTAL CARS FOR FURTHER TESTING.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 39, No 9, PP 22-25
• Publication Date: 1968-4-22

Media Info

• Serial:
  • Product Engineering
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill, Incorporated

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injury research; Crashes; Design; Drivers; Experiments; Mathematical models; Research; Standards; Vehicle safety; Vehicles
• Old TRIS Terms: Vehicular safety
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00222716
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 18 1994 12:00AM