Posted Might 17, 2023 in Weblog

Pedestrian fatalities on our roads are at a ten-year excessive in the US and bigger automobiles and vans contribute considerably to this disaster. Now, 32 members of Congress are calling on the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) to replace automobile security rankings so that they take into consideration protections for individuals exterior of automobiles. 

The lawmakers acknowledged, “To realize our shared purpose of Imaginative and prescient Zero and reverse the alarming development in highway fatalities, NHTSA ought to strengthen NCAP by prioritizing pedestrian safety and driver visibility in new automobiles.”

Representatives Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Steve Cohen (TN-09), and Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) led 27 colleagues in urging NHTSA to take motion, supported by 11 different pedestrian and bicyclist advocacy and transportation security organizations, together with America Walks.

“Bigger automobiles and vans are one cause why pedestrian fatalities have reached a ten-year excessive in the US,” stated Mike McGinn, Government Director of America Walks. “Their elevated weight, towering entrance grilles, and poor visibility from the motive force’s seat make these automobiles deadlier than the smaller ones they changed.  Bigger automobiles and vans are usually not the only real explanation for the rise in pedestrian deaths, however the federal authorities has the direct capacity to repair the recognized points that make them deadly.”

What’s the context?

Final yr, NHTSA took an preliminary step to make automobiles safer for individuals exterior automobiles by in search of feedback for its overhaul of the New Automobile Evaluation Program (NCAP), its five-star security score program that’s marketed to customers. Quite a lot of new security options like automated emergency braking, hood and bumper design, and clever pace help have been on the desk to be included in security rankings. By the shut of the general public remark interval on June eighth, hundreds of People had voiced their assist for options like these and had submitted over 16,000 feedback, lots of which inspired NHTSA to go even additional and tackle extreme automobile dimension, poor visibility from the motive force’s seat, and the flexibility to drive over the pace restrict.

As NHTSA finalizes its ruling on NCAP, these 32 members of Congress need to be certain the company is score automobiles based mostly on how secure they’re for the individuals strolling, biking, and rolling who share the road with them.

NHTSA has the facility to guard individuals exterior automobiles past simply higher security rankings

Automobile security requirements that save the lives of individuals exterior automobiles shouldn’t be non-compulsory. However on the finish of the day, NCAP rankings nonetheless depart the security of pedestrians and cyclists to client selection.

NHTSA’s Federal Motor Automobile Security Requirements (FMVSS) set the bar for safeguarding automobile occupants. It additionally has the facility to determine necessary automobile designs that defend the lives of individuals exterior automobiles, like smaller and safer hoods and bumpers that scale back the impression of being struck and direct visibility necessities that enable drivers to see individuals exterior of automobiles. 

NHTSA mandates gear like seatbelts and airbags that defend automobile occupants by its FMVSS; it ought to do the identical for designs and applied sciences that save the lives of individuals exterior automobiles.

America Walks has launched a Safer Automobiles for Pedestrians Marketing campaign, a long-term effort to boost public consciousness about options and urge federal, state, and native governments to take motion.