Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Pedestrian Safe Cars

Saw a report on crash tests to determine which cars were safest for pedestrians. Some were better than others. Those that didn’t fare so well have apparently received recommendations to lift their game. As well as upgrade to the Australian standards to account for safety to pedestrians.

Yet the safest place for a pedestrian is where there are no cars, the footpath. If a car encroaches into that space no amount of engineering brilliance will save you from serious injury.

What about promoting pedestrians being wise about their decisions. Changing car design for pedestrian safety is implying that it is all right for pedestrians to continue with their reckless, dangerous and risky decisions when crossing roads. It doesn’t allow the individual to take responsibility for their own decisions.

It’s always the fault of someone or something else. For this report it seems the fault lies with the car.

1 comment:

Meaghan said...

To make cars virtually impervious for humans, we would need to make them all inflatable, like the ones we see on TV in a caricaturistic, blow-up world. Like Tim says, it can't be done. Cars must have certain aerodynamics, and a certain amount of reinforcing in order to be safe structures for their occupants. It's not necessarily about the design of vehicles or what they're made from that is unsafe. It's momentum and acceleration as well. See, a ten cent piece dropped from a height can gather enough acceleration to kill whatever is beneath it on the ground. Does that mean we should redesign ten cent pieces?