This paper aims to outline the main areas, involving vehicle safety measures, where progress can be made easily with significant reductions of casualties. It is concerned mainly with car occupants, because they continue to represent most casualties. Measures for safer vehicles can be classified broadly into: (1) primary or active safety, concerned with accident avoidance; (2) secondary or passive safety, concerned with vehicle occupant protection in an accident. Common primary safety features include: (1) antilock brakes, still installed in only relatively few cars; (2) more efficient brakes; (3) better lighting; (4) improved vehicle handling; (5) general ergonomics. There is a vast potential for applying secondary safety measures to reduce casualties, even using existing technology. Specific measures include: (1) improved steering wheels; (2) air bags; (3) seat belt pretensioners; (4) methods of protection against frontal and side impacts; (5) front underrun guards for heavy goods vehicles. There needs to be a detailed plan of action, examining areas where most casualties can be prevented. Each factor motivating change should then be examined, to find the most appropriate ways of influencing car design. These factors include: (1) legislation; (2) litigation; (3) government pressure through codes of practice, etc; and (4) consumer awareness and pressure, which is probably the most effective approach.
Abstract