The current popularity of crash bars (bull-bars) fitted to vehicles used on the public roads has given rise to concern because the strength and shape of crash bars appear likely to increase the risk of serious injury to pedestrians in road accidents. The Vehicle Safety Engineering division of the Department of Transport set up a working group to develop a code of practice with manufacturers. The Transport Research Laboratory was requested to assess the pedestrian safety of an off-road vehicle and the value of adopting the code of practice in the light of forthcoming legislation for pedestrians (EEVC Working Group 10 report, 1991). The vehicle was tested with and without the manufacturer's approved crash bar, and also with a prototype crash bar made to the Crash Bar Working Group's draft code of practice. In all full speed tests the levels allowed in the forthcoming legislation were exceeded by a significant margin. The safety potential of a draft code of practice is discussed in the light of these test results. (A)
Abstract