Effectiveness of Anti-Lock Brakes

NHTSA published a reqeust for comments in yesterday's Federal Register about a Technical Report on The Long-Term Effect of ABS in Passenger Cars and LTVs (based on 1995 to 2007 data), some good some not really... Here are the basic findings:

1. "ABS has close to a zero net effect on fatal crash involvements."

2. Fatal run-off-road crashes of pass cars increased 9%.

3. Fatal collisions with pedestrians decreased 13%

4. Collisions with other vehicles on wet roads decreased 12%.

5. "ABS is quite effective on nonfatal crashes, reducing the overall crash-involvement rate by 6% in passenger cars."

Here's the link: text, PDF

Safety Rulemaking & Research Priorities

The Natinoal Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a request for comments (due Aug. 31, 2009) on its Safety Rulemaking & Research Priority Plan 2009-2011. Here are a few interesting insights gleaned from the report.

In 2007 there were more than 6 million police-reported crashes in the U.S., over 41,000 people were killed, 2.5 million injured, and it is estimated the cost to society was $230 billion (about $750/person).

Four types of crashes account for 85% of all fatal crashes, as well as 75% of all road fatalities (presumably including pedestrians?):

Run-Off-Road (23%)
Rear-End (28%)
Lane Change (9%)
Crossing Path (25%)

Makes sense. The higher the speed and/or directional difference between objects in a collision, the greater the risk.

Light trucks present a higher fatality risk than passenger cars in frontal crashes with other motor vehicles (37% and 32% of fatal crashes, respectively).

Light trucks also present a significant fatality risk in non-collision rollovers, "accounting for 23 percent of crash fatalities."

This will not be helped by CAFE standards which is assessed in part on vehicle footprint, which is based on track width and wheelbase and thus encourages larger overhangs. This reduces vehicle stability compared with placing wheels at the furthest corners of the vehicle.

Crash avoidance programs are the highest priority at NHTSA as they offer the greatest benefits.

Source: NHTSA (Text, PDF)