Safer vehicles for US roads

Tougher testing standards are being introduced in the US to measure vehicle crash performance. The new tests are focusing strongly on side impacts, with the introduction of a new pole impact category.
February 9, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Tougher testing standards are being introduced in the US to measure vehicle crash performance. The new tests are focusing strongly on side impacts, with the introduction of a new pole impact category. This has been introduced as it is recognised that while side impacts into poles and trees only form a small percentage of vehicle crashes, they represent a major hazard to road users. Modern cars have been designed over the last 40 years to offer ever better impact performance, with 1685 Mercedes having led the field in the development of cars featuring crumple zones. However side impacts with poles have taken less of a precedent during design, something that the authorities now wish to address. For new vehicle buyers it will be worth noting that the new crash ratings will result in many recent models achieving lower scores than previously. However these lower scores will reflect the introduction of the new pole test and may actually be safer than those vehicles with higher scores awarded a few years before. The 834 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it will conduct an extensive campaign to make the public aware that the new vehicles will face an additional test and that scores may be affected, although overall safety for the user will actually improve.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Enforcement a key part of the road safety solution
    January 31, 2012
    The Partnership for Advancing Road Safety is a new organisation set up in the US to push the national debate on speed and intersection safety, something which hitherto has been absent. Here, executive director David Kelly explains the organisation's work. With moves to address drink/drug driving and the wearing of seatbelts starting to prove successful in the US, the use of inappropriate speed and poor driving at intersections have become responsible for a proportionately greater number of the deaths and in
    Read More
  • Monitoring and transparency preserve enforcement's reputation
    July 30, 2012
    What can be done to preserve automated enforcement's reputation in the face of media and public criticism? Here, system manufacturers and suppliers talk about what they think are the most appropriate business models. Recent events in Italy only served to once again to push automated enforcement into the media spotlight. At the heart of the matter were the numerous alleged instances of local authorities and their contract suppliers of enforcement services colluding to illegally shorten amber signal phase tim
    Read More
  • Developing Mexico's ITS standards and infrastructure
    February 28, 2013
    Promoting open market conditions for ITS deployment remains a major part of Mexico’s recent infrastructure modernization program. Travis P Dunn, partner at D’Artagnan Consulting, looks at the progress so far. In the past six years, Mexico has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure modernization program, calling for the construction and improvement of more than 19,000km of road infrastructure and the deployment of advanced technologies that improve safety, efficiency, and convenience for road users. One of
    Read More
  • Crash prevention systems improving rapidly says IIHS
    June 2, 2014
    According to its latest report, less than a year into a new Insurance |Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) ratings program for front crash prevention, auto manufacturers are making strides in adopting the most beneficial systems with automatic braking capabilities and are offering the features on a wider variety of models. Twenty-one of 24 cars and SUVs, all 2014 models unless noted, earn an advanced or higher rating in the latest round of IIHS evaluations. "We are already seeing improvements from automaker
    Read More

Highlighted Content