The ESV Program originated more than three decades ago under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society, and was implemented through bilateral agreements between the Governments of the United States, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Sweden. The participating nations agreed to develop experimental safety vehicles to advance the state-of-the-art technology in automotive engineering and to meet periodically to exchange information on their progress. Since its inception the number of international partners has grown to include the governments of Canada, Australia, The Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, and two international organizations -- the European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee, and the European Commission. A representative from each country and organization serves as a Government Focal Point in support of the Conference. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange, distributes this CD-Rom publication containing the Proceedings of the 19th ESV Conference. The technical papers included in this publication detail safety research efforts underway worldwide, and share the common international objective of reducing motor vehicle related fatalities and injuries. The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in the publication are those of the Author(s) and not necessarily those of the Department of Transportation or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (Author/publisher)
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