HALTING HIGHWAY VIOLENCE. CARS CAN BE SAFER!

The toll of motor vehicle violence continues worldwide, largely unabated, corroding the quality of civilization everywhere. Yet it need not be this way. Societies everywhere have many opportunities to reduce their losses to far below present levels. With respect to vehicles, these opportunities include both matters of high policy involving the coordination and emphasis of public and private decisions about transportation modes, and seemingly narrow engineering matters that determine, on a huge scale, the magnitudes of the losses of life, limb and property in entire societies. This paper discusses these opportunities, pointing out studies which have demonstrated the value of various safety devices, such as additional brake lights or radar-based warning systems. Final comments center on motor vehicle design and raise several questions, such as why we still manufacture vehicles which travel faster than legal speed limits and why we still have technologically out-of-date regulations or standards.

• Corporate Authors:

  Insurance Information Institute

  110 William Street
  New York, NY  United States  10038
• Authors:
  • Haddon Jr, W
• Publication Date: 1983-11

Media Info

• Features: Photos;
• Pagination: p. 2-7
• Serial:
  • Journal of Insurance
  • Volume: 44
  • Issue Number: 6
  • Publisher: Insurance Information Institute

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Decision making; Emotions; Highway safety; Planning; Vehicle design; Vehicle safety; Violent crimes
• Old TRIS Terms: Vehicular safety
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Vehicles and Equipment; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00387822
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-036 525
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 30 1984 12:00AM