On September 13th, 2021, five-year-old Allie Hart had a typical day - riding her bike on a sidewalk near her residence in Washington, DC.
When the driver of a transit van collided with her, she passed away instantly.
Jessica Hart, Allie's mother, describes her experience as "My whole world being shattered." Despite this, she claims that no progress was made in protecting individuals like Allie.
The contrast between Ms Hart's day-to-day life and her bereavement inspired her to take up a cause against traffic fatalities. She is currently a part of the campaign organisation, DC Families for Safe Streets, where she advocates for roads with better design, drivers with heightened awareness, and cars with better safety measures.
She holds the opinion that people who are not in the car are often considered a secondary consideration when someone purchases a vehicle. "For many, it comes down to cost, what they like, and their sense of security [for the driver and passengers]."
There are many forms of technology available that can help protect the lives of vulnerable road users (VRUs). This group is comprised of pedestrians, cyclists, those in wheelchairs, motorcyclists and scooter riders, who, worldwide, are the majority of those killed in traffic-related incidents.
Some safety features that have been established for a while are still not always included in new vehicles, even though they should be due to safety ratings and regulations.
Cost is one factor that might influence drivers' decisions regarding additional safety features. If these features were to increase the cost of the car, it is uncertain whether drivers would actually go ahead and purchase them.
Alex Thompson has pondered the question for a great deal of time. He is the leading safety engineer at Thatcham Research, a not-for-profit organisation that studies vehicle risk awareness and is underwritten by insurance firms.
A great deal of Mr Thompson's work is dedicated to conducting crash tests.
According to Mr Thompson, as the technology developing, expenses usually decrease. He commented: "It doesn't have to be the case that the safest vehicle is the priciest one."
Designers have been moving towards using materials that are more flexible, which includes flattening off sections of the hood that pedestrians could hit with their heads. "Anything rigid isn't good for someone who's walking," Mr Thompson states.
Therefore, front bumpers must be durable, but newer versions include foam cushioning or other materials underneath the bumpers to reduce some of the force of colliding.
There are still difficulties when it comes to this. The A-pillars of a windscreen are built in a way that they won't collapse on impact, and Mr Thompson mentions that it is difficult for car makers to make sure that vulnerable road users (VRUs) are safe.
If you are a pedestrian and come into contact with the top of the windscreen, it is likely to be the most damaging area of the vehicle to strike. Cyclists should take special care to avoid this area.
Back in 2012, Volvo specifically designated the V40 as the zone in which it introduced pedestrian airbags.
The company maintains that these airbags were designed to help guard pedestrians against potentially serious head injury in cases of impact with the bonnet or around the locations of the windscreen wiper recess and the A-pillar.
Despite this, the implementation of this innovation has been sluggish across other models.
Mr Thompson states that a pop up bonnet, which utilizes sensors to identify when someone has been struck and then deploys pyrotechnic charges to raise the bonnet, is another passive safety feature. This minimizes the effects of the crash, although its implementation depends on the size of the engine and the quantity of room available.
Mr Thompson stresses that passive safety features alone are not a sufficient replacement for active safety measures. He explains that while automakers can make vehicles as safe for pedestrians as possible, taking steps to avoid accidents in the first instance is preferable.
Automatic/autonomous emergency braking (AEB) is a key preventive technology for active safety which uses a vehicle's cameras and sensors to detect when a pedestrian is at risk and apply the brakes accordingly.
A number of new cars in Europe are now fitted with AEB. Even though the technology is not flawless, and it is particularly effective at low speeds, its performance may not be as good during the night or when pedestrians suddenly move from one place to another, it is being continuously improved and is growing increasingly diverse.
Car makers are using more lidar (light detection and ranging) as well as radar for AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking) sensors. Various AEB systems are being put in place that protect not only pedestrians, but also other vulnerable road users.
This includes cyclists -Thatcham Research is a testing centre for the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), which will from 2023 include dooring into its safety assessments. Dooring describes the act of a car door being opened onto an oncoming cyclist. Currently, there exist technologies which can alert those inside a car of nearby cyclists as well as stop any doors from being opened.
The risk of a severe injury is decreased with a decrease in rate of travel, according to Mike McGinn, who serves as the executive director of the advocacy organization America Walks. Therefore, the European Union has made it mandatory that all new cars are equipped with an intelligent speed assistance (ISA) system, which either signals of the driver of high speed or automatically decreases speed.
In addition to speed, the size of cars is a significant element.
The rise in the usage of larger passenger vehicles, such as SUVs, in the United States and other countries is a cause for concern with regards to the safety of pedestrians.
Mr McGinn states that even though they are heavier, there is still the factor of blunt force impact.
Moreover, as cars have become bigger, their vision of what's ahead and behind has diminished.
In some cities, efforts have been made to try to discourage SUV ownership by increasing parking or registration fees for those vehicles.
The regulation of vehicles to enhance safety for those exposed to potential danger on the roads has been diverse.
The NHTSA in the United States is pondering an alteration to their New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) to encompass pedestrian safety.
Mr McGinn claimed that in the US, vehicles may for the first time be ranked and overseen with respect to their safety for pedestrians.
The NHTSA is considering implementing a safety regulation for pedestrian automatic emergency braking, which they estimate to have the ability to save hundreds of lives each year. today is becoming more digitised.
Business technology today is transitioning to digital forms.
Heavy goods vehicles face stricter regulations than commercial vehicles. The EU and Japan necessitate direct vision from lorry drivers, meaning that they have to be able to spot vulnerable road users without mirrors. London has additionally required lorries to diminish blind spots.
As Ms. Hart emphasizes, traffic violence-induced disasters that could have been avoided don't just have an impact on those who do not drive. No matter where they call home, everyone gets out of their car.
No one is exempt. Therefore, it is essential that we contemplate how to devise automobiles, and this can be carried out by means of legislation.
Comments