Added: 12/30/2005 |
Does The Car You Drive Provide Adequate Passenger Safety?The need for people to be alert to car safety mushroomed in the last decade. Why? Because more people drive, increased traffic is a daily occurrence, all vehicles can travel faster and few of us have time to recognise the danger of an accident before it occurs. It's all a question of movement. Car safety features are an attempt by motor manufacturers to help prevent the loss of life and serious injury to individuals travelling in one of their products. Next time you pass a motor accident what do you think you'll remember, probably the make and model of the vehicle/s involved. Manufacturers carry a huge burden on their shoulders to ensure the make and model you see isn't one of theirs.
Passenger safety attracts as much concern as does driver safety, although that wasn't always the case. In the sixties driver protection was something people used to get excited about hence manufacturers were prompted to develop, for example, the collapsible steering wheel. Passenger safety did not really exist, no one was advised to wear seat belts not that many vehicles included them anyway. You simply climbed into a car and hoped the driver would ensure you didn't die or get injured. In addition bench seats were still used by several manufacturers, and although they were convenient for passengers to cuddle up to you while driving, or to stretch three adults across the front seating, but bench seats offered no control over what happened to passengers in a crash.
Car seat safety changed dynamically during the sixties when manufacturers turned away from bench seats in preference to what was then termed the individual bucket seat concept. Hence today you won't find vehicles with bench seats simply because they are wholly inadequate to support passengers in the event of an accident. OK, the sixties is old news but what happened then triggered motor manufacturers to re-evaluate the safety inherent in their designs. It was probably the dawn of passenger safety as we know it today, and for that reason consider it a part of the learning process that we can all reflect upon to better appreciate why we are where we are today in relation to car safety.
When someone dies horribly in an auto accident for example a child, simply because the vehicle in which they were being transported lacked adequate safety protection. This tends to create an outcry from the public sector which has a ripple effect on those in the business of manufacturing vehicles. Child carseat safety developed a momentum of its own during the seventies and today is a hugely profitable business. Along with recognition that bench seats did nothing for passenger safety, bucket seats were also recognised as not the answer in regard to child carseat safety. Although it did not take long before a small bucket seat version was considered as the answer for child passenger safety.
In the world of business manufacturers acknowledged the outcry from the public that triggered a focus on car safety, but in addition motor manufacturers also heard the unhappy rumblings from insurance companies. The matrix by which insurance companies match a driver with a car in order to obtain an appropriate charge, developed a great deal from experience. Statistics provided the necessary ammunition by indicating how many teen drivers hit something compared with more mature adults. The statistics also analysed the types of injuries or causes of fatalities to drivers and passengers and, when they were able to identify a pattern, pointed this out to the appropriate government department and motor manufacturers associations.
Insurance companies have played a pivotal role in urging drivers to purchase vehicles with an adequate performance to move from A to B, rather than blistering, rubber burning power. Statistical analysis indicates that speed is often a root cause of accidents. Moving too fast when you are gambling the road ahead will remain clear is unfair on you, but far worse, it's also unfair on everyone else too. Driving is commonsense maintain an appropriate speed in the surroundings in which you are driving. Speed limits are generated for a reason, not to frustrate people, but to protect them. It simply doesn't get any easier than that. Even if you do follow the rules of the road you may still have an accident, but the damage you do to yourself and to anyone else will be far less than if you were speeding.
Insurance companies have to take motoring seriously. The amount paid out by insurance companies annually in relation to injuries and accidents runs into billions. In the U.K. today if it can be proved that a car passenger did not wear a seat belt the insurance may be considered void. The onus is on the driver to ensure that passenger safety complies with legal requirements.
Ultimately car safety is the responsibility of the driver. Manufacturers will continue to add technology to improve the safety of their vehicles, but the single most important safety feature in any vehicle will always be the behaviour of the individual driving the vehicle. Insurance companies acknowledge this by offering financial discounts to drivers who acquire advanced driving certificates. Perhaps you should consider improving your vehicle's safety features and thereby passenger safety also by taking advanced driving lessons.
Article comments:
No comments for this article yet. Post your comment now!
