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CAR SAFETY MEASURE PUTS LIVES AT RISK
[The Scotsman 23/10/05]
A common car safety measure designed to save lives has been identified by transport experts as a major cause of road accidents.
Passenger compartment pillars have been thickened in recent years to protect occupants from injury or death in the event of a crash.
But the Department for Transport (DfT) has now launched a £75,000 investigation into whether the widened pillars in many new models are contributing to accidents by creating a bigger 'blind spot' for drivers.
Analysts have even invented a new term for this type of accident: "looked but did not see", or LBDNS. One study found that one in five accidents were caused by LBDNS, making them the third most common reason cited by drivers for collisions.
The DfT has commissioned the Transport Research Laboratory in Berkshire to analyse data from accidents and construct computer simulations.
It believes the danger is especially acute at junctions, roundabouts, merging lanes on dual carriageways and motorways, because the blind spots may stop drivers seeing cyclists, motorcyclists and even other cars.
The concern is that in the approach to a typical junction the pillar will block the driver's view of another car for about a third of a second - about the time most drivers will spend on a glance to check there is nothing coming.
More disturbingly, if vehicles are approaching a junction or a merging of lanes at similar speeds, the pillars might 'track' the other vehicle, obscuring the view of the other road-user for several crucial seconds, with potentially catastrophic results.
A DfT study carried out last year into 61,000 accidents across 13 UK police forces, including Central Scotland and Strathclyde, concluded that LBDNS was the third most common reason claimed for an accident - the top two were "inattention" and "failure to judge another driver's path or speed" - with 19.7% falling into this category.
A spokesman said: "The Department is currently undertaking research to test the hypothesis that modern car design can obscure the road and other road users to such an extent that it is an important contributory factor in accidents.
"This project will provide information on what drivers see in real-world accidents and how their field of vision may be affected by car design."
The main concern, the DoT spokesman said, was that the thickness of the 'A' pillars - essentially the forward roof supports - has been increasing and limiting drivers'field of vision as a result.
"There is some evidence to support this claim, but to date the effects of 'A' pillar obscuration have not been thoroughly investigated," he said.
Road safety campaigners welcomed the DoT investigation but questioned why officials had taken so long to act.
Paul Smith, the founder of the Safe Speed campaign, said motorcyclists particularly felt at risk from car blind spots.
"The failure of the authorities to deal with this vital safety issue is all too typical of modern weak roadsafety thinking," Smith said. "The study is too little, too late. How many crashes could have been prevented in the last year alone if government had acted to highlight the dangers?"
Roger Vincent, spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said pillar-widening was causing concern. "They have become wider and they make it harder for drivers to see, especially at junctions," Vincent said. "Drivers should take special care and not just take a quick glance."
Mark McArthur-Christie, the road safety spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, described the investigation as "very good news". He added: "As someone who often uses a motorcycle, I feel especially at risk at junctions and roundabouts. We need to balance the safety of car occupants when they are involved in an accident with the need to design cars to avoid accidents happening in the first place."
The AA Motoring Trust agreed. Andrew Howard, the trust's head of road safety, said: "This has been emerging as an increasingly important issue in recent years. But the dilemma is balancing the safety of the driver and passengers with the need for visibility."
Growing concern about poor visibility from cars has prompted Europe's largest motoring organisation, ADAC - the German equivalent of the British AA - to draw up league tables for the best and worst cars for forward and sideways vision.
The poorest cars tested included the Mitsubishi Colt, the VW T5 Multivan, the BMW 750i, the Volvo V50, the BMW 5 Series and the Honda Accord saloon.
The best included the Renault Espace, the BMW Z4 Roadster, the Mercedes CL Mini One Cabrio and the Fiat Croma.
Car giant Volvo has recently unveiled a new prototype car which aims to solve the problem by replacing the pillars with a steel lattice frame combined with high-tech transparent materials.
A spokeswoman for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said: "We will work with government, but drivers also have a responsibility to check their own blind spots and drive safely."
Douglas Robertson, the chairman of the Scottish Motor Trade Association, said: "This is not an issue we have had any feedback on from consumers, who seem very happy with modern cars.
"The answer is, as is pointed out in the highway code, to move your head, and drivers need to be careful and remember that it is up to them to be sure that the road ahead is clear.
"My car has thick pillars and I know that had I not moved my head for better visibility on a number of occasions, I would have taken out cyclists."
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2133062005
http://www.smidsy.co.uk
http://www.smidsy.org.uk
Exclusive copy of University of Minnesota report: http://www.safespeed.org.uk/minnesota001.pdf
Contact for University of Minnesota report:
Dr. Curtis Hammond
Human Performance Research Lab Univ. of Minnesota, US email: chammond@umn.edu
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