Thursday, September 24, 2015

Vehicle safety in the USA

As a percentage of the U.S. population, traffic fatalities were more than twice as high in the 1960s than today. In raw numbers, 1972 was the deadliest year with more than 54,000 fatalities, compared with fewer than 34,000 deaths in 2012, despite having a much larger population base in 2012. And measured in deaths per million vehicle miles traveled (VMT), the current rate of 1.1 is significantly reduced from the 7.2 rate of 1950 – and a fraction of the 1921 rate of 24.1 deaths per million VMT.

“Painted lines on the roads, shoulders, guardrails…" they didn't exist. But today, technological improvements like airbags and child safety seats, seatbelts, chassis crumple zones, and other engineering improvements like hydroformed frames, and Onstar are required equipment today, but optional novelties in the past.

To show how far we’ve come and the cumulative impact of the “research to action” philosophy, State Farm created an interactive timeline that highlights key advancements in auto safety starting in the late 1800’s.

State Farm claims a role in many critical changes, including: airbags, child passenger seat safety, teen graduated driver licensing, and head restraints redesign. I haven't seen proof yet of their contributions to these, so I state that they claim, not they they did. I'm skeptical like that.

State Farm is also trying to be involved in reducing distracted driving (not very likely to have any change regardless of methods) and in teen driver safety. (ditto) Here’s their dedicated page to the topic: http://teendriving.statefarm.com/

Seat belts were invented in 1904 in France,
1915 REO puts windshields on as standard, not optional, equipment
1918 hydraulic brakes,
1919 Ford switches to laminated glass (closed cars became the norm, and glass prices had tripled, this was a cost saving measure, not a safety design)
1923 Windows were glued into their frames, keeping passengers from going through shards, and keeping them from being ejected, and increasing structural rigidity in roll overs
1934 GMC began crash testing its vehicles to improve their design for safety,
1937 Safety glass required in all cars manufactured in the USA
1950 Nash puts seat belts into 2 models
1954 SCCA mandates lap belts
1957 Curved windshields eliminated a driver blind spot
1958 Volvo patents the 3 point belt
1958 The Monroney sticker is required to display car information on new cars so buyers are informed, fuel economy info was added in the 1970s
1960 big brother began its overlook program to keep drivers registered... not that this has had any effect on anyone who wants to drive regardless of a licence,
1965 Ralph Nader poked his nose into auto safety, though well intentioned, his interference in the Corvair was proven wrong.. his demand for seatbelts was on target though. It's due to him that the
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety standards were set for strength, clarity of laminated windshields and windshield retention strength during accidents as well as roof rigidity in rollover accidents. All of these began to get implemented in the 1970s
1966 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is formed to establish and administer motor vehicle and highway safety standards. They've failed miserably due to inadequate management and ability to stay on top of the rapid growth of vehicles, and have never gotten their 1977 requirements for driving tests enacted. They were doing ok until the car companies grew large enough, technically nimble enough, and far more determined to get rich instead of be safe (GM evading the ignition recall, VW cheating the smog test)
1967 the DOT required the installation of lap and shoulder belts in the front seats. No law said you had to use them, why? Because motorcycles are allowed on the same roads, to do the same function, and have no seat belts, and neither do buses
1968 side marker lights for visibility of vehicles from the side (head lights and brake lights were sunken into the cars so far to keep them from being damaged, that they were not visible from the sides in the dark.
1969 head rests to prevent whiplash
1971 to 78 Child seats become mandatory
1983 Realizing how much money automatic safety restraint systems would save them, State Farm Insurance Company brings the NHTSA to court over the matter. State Farm wins the case and the NHTSA is ordered to write a new regulation for automatic restraint systems.
1985 to 1989 Seat belts are legally required to be worn in vehicles made with them, buses still exampt, ditto pickup truck beds, and motorcycles, and all old vehicles that weren't made with them
1985 Anti lock brakes start to get included on passenger cars
1988 the drinking age is raised in order to get federal funds for roads, yup, states sold out their citizens rights for money to build highways
2007 crash test ratings added to the Monroney sticker
2007 no texting while driving law added
2012 Anti lock brakes are DOT required on all new cars

in the 1980s breathalyzer ignition interlocks were made, but not perfected until the 1990s
by 2012 all 50 states had laws about DUI offenders having interlocks installed. Nothing keeps a sober person, or cannister of compressed air, from cheating the system though

http://driveforsafety.goodneighbors.com/
http://blog.esurance.com/seat-belt-history/#.VgSz8PlVhBd
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignition_interlock_device
http://goodneighbors.com/post/80974875713/driveforautosafety
http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/windshield-history.cfm

4 comments:

  1. Could be it was here I read it first, but painted centerlines on roads were probably the single greatest leap in automotive safety history. That was before WW2, of course.

    As for today, the death penalty for people who text while driving, would be another great leap.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I posted about that http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2014/10/dead-mans-curve-update-vintage-post.html about a year ago... you've got a great memory! I disagree on the death penalty. Texting while driving doesn't deserve death. C'mon. You have to reserve the harshest punishment for the most severe crimes... pedophiles, mass murderers, stuff like that. For texting, if it results in a crash, I think just removing the thumbs would be fitting. Let the punishment fit the crime. Oh, and having to wear a sandwich board that says I text and drive and caused a crash, in front of the DMV, and hospitals.

      Delete
  2. This is kind of odd: Normally my memory works fine back until about 20 minutes ago, and then there's a foggy gap until the late 1980s, before which most things stand pretty clear again.

    Don't worry about texting and the death penalty, I'm no supporter of it, no matter what the crime. I'd much rather have some built-in device disabling phones in cars moving in excess of 0.00002 mph.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is a pretty good idea, they've made those for parents to install on their kids cars.. I don't know if anyone has, but it seems like a no brainer to me. Anyone with teen drivers would be crazy not to keep their kids entirely focused on driving

      Delete