[sustran] Re: Passive Safety in The Automotive Sector of India

[Karthik Rao-Cavale]

Chris,

You make an important point. The focus on preventive safety at the vehicle
level might induce drivers to be less careful, increase crashes, and give
cyclists and pedestrians more to worry about. Even if this doesn't
disincentivize cycling/walking itself, it might still create demand for
safety equipment that might not have been necessary previously. Comparative
analysis of various traffic safety measures at the population level
(evaluated based on number of traffic-related fatalities and injuries) is
probably the way to go. Helmet laws may be compared to better road
infrastructure (better signals, signs) and policing using social
cost-benefit analyses, for instance.

On Sat, Dec 10, 2011 at 7:55 PM, Chris Bradshaw <c_bradshaw at rogers.com>wrote:

> ". . . passive safety features refer to systems
> > designed to minimise injury to the occupants in the event of a crash . .
> .
> > "
>
> This is an inadequate and unsustainable definition of passive safety, as it
> doesn't include any protection of those who are not occupants of the
> vehicles: pedestrians, cyclists, and bystanders.
>
> Europe now recognizes this by requiring new models to have measures that
> reduce the seriousness of injuries to the unprotected human body.
>
> If you don't widen the definition, the measures only encourage faster
> driving, with the net safety change for the occupants being nil, and for
> other road users being a significant decline.  It is inappropriate that
> governments get involved ensuring that new safety measures only protect
> those in a private vehicle, rather than all users of the public space that
> the vehicle is driving through.
>
> Here is a study reported some years ago that reflects on this truth:
> Ottawa Citizen December 12, 1994, p. A1: If Drivers Feel Safe, Caution's
> Not
> Their Bag
>
> A Virginia study has found drivers whose cars are equipped with air bags
> take more risks because of the added protection. In fatal crashes involving
> an air-bag-equipped car and one with no air bag, the driver of the air
> bag-equipped car was responsible 73 percent of the time (compiled by Iain
> Hunter).
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit
> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss
>
> ================================================================
> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South').
>