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Public Safety groups call on lawmakers for auto safety improvements
July 21, 2005
Public safety groups and people who have lost friends and relatives in vehicle related crashes called on lawmakers to ensure the provisions curbing vehicle related deaths and injuries are included in the highway bill, which is to be completed as early as this week.
The Senate passed version of a bill a House-Senate conference committee is currently working on includes provisions to ensure future vehicles have life-saving improvements, including stronger roofs, electronic stability control, side window glazing and side head air bags. The auto safety bill also called for the National Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to study the problems of children being backed over and injured by power windows. The House of Representatives highway bill does not contain these provisions because it does not have a commerce title.
Every year, thousands of deaths and severe injuries result from rollovers, ejections, side impact crashes, backovers and power windows, which can be avoided, according to Public Citizen consumer group, with "critical safeguards". Despite suggestions by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), the House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Rep., to put the provisions in a separate bill in the fall, Senate conferees have said because of the full schedule that is not a viable option.
Numerous consumer groups are behind passing the auto safety provisions. Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook thinks that the provisions are "long-overdue." The last time auto safety legislation was passed in 2000, when the House and Senate responded to the Firestone tragedies involving defective tires and rollover prone vehicles that resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries. Pending safety provisions address problems lawmakers skimmed over in 2000 which would more appropriately address the dangers that resulted in the Firestone tragedies.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety President Judith Lee Stone said, "Inaction is unacceptable." Recent figures from NHTSA project that 42,800 people were killed in vehicle crashes during 2004. From 2003 to 2004, a 6.9 percent increase in SUV rollover fatalities was recorded.
Based on the current level of fatalities, an estimated 212,500 lives will be lost on the nation's highways, and 15 million people will be injured, costing society more than $1 trillion over the life of the five-year bill. In addition to the number of preventable highway fatalities and injuries Kids and Cars founder Janette Fennell said the group has recorded a "dramatic spike in the number of children being killed and injured in non-traffic, non-crash events this year" and that "Congress needs to end these unthinkable deaths."
Every safety measure on the bill is supported by strong data and proven research, which the Public Citizen says will remedy the problems. More than 40 percent of all highway deaths are the result of rollover and side impact related accidents, and studies estimate that adding electronic stability control or rollover stability control alone can reduce deaths and injuries by as much as one-third by preventing crashes from occurring, saving as many as 2,100 lives a year in rollover crashes.
In addition to rollover prevention, a new roof crush resistance standard could prevent at least 1,400 deaths and 2,300 severe injuries, including paraplegia and quadriplegia every year. Roof crush resistance standards have not been updated since 1971. The bill also calls for occupant ejection prevention, improved side impact crash protection, backover technology study, non-traffic data collection and effective safety belt use reminders in all seats.
With bipartisan support, safety advocates and survivor advocates urged transportation bill conferees to include the safety standards in the final version of the bill, which should be enacted as soon as possible to prevent death and injury. For more information on auto safety, please contact us.
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