Safe vehicle

Motor journalists

Toyota Celica

New cars are more safe, argue the car sellers. Based on the Euro-NCAP tests, this is probably true.

BMW: "For those having children. Or is one yourselves."

A safe vehicle is fine for a family with children. Nobody want to expose their children for unneeded risks. Most new cars have been improved for the protection of the persons inside the car in the case of an accident. The car design is further improved making the driving more easy, more safe and the car more pleasant to travel with.

These improvements may result in less accidents and less injuries if the driver is careful in the traffic. If the driver is playing as a child in the traffic, the result could easily be reduced safety as indicated by the injury frequencies on Norwegian roads for the BMW model 3. Some years ago BMW had a logo telling about their invention of the "joy of driving".

What advantage do we have of improved cars if the drivers are actively promoted by the car seller to play in the traffic. The added safety in the new designs may easily be lost if the driver takes more risks in his/her driving attitude.

The time may come when the "joy of driving" is scrapped and replaced by careful driving in safe vehicles on safe roads. If this is given full active support by the authorities, the political parties, BMW and the other car sellers known for this type of promotion, the result could be a real reduction of the number of killed and injured on our roads.

Euro-NCAP tests

The Euro-NCAP tests are performed at 64 km/hour. The result is given as number of stars from one to five. Most new vehicles get 4 or 5 as the test result. Does this mean that the vehicle with 5 stars are safe for the people in the car?

This is depending of the speed of the car at the time of a crash. If the speed is 64 km/hour or less, the people is probably safe with the right use of safety belts. This speed is rather low compared to what most cars normally are driving. The diagram below shows the energy increase required to stop a vehicle from speeds different and higher then 64 km/hour.

With a crash speed of 90 km/hour in stead of 64, the energy to stop the vehicle is close to 100 % higher. Are the vehicle designed so strong that the people in the vehicle is protected even at this speed?

The Euro-NCAP test does not tell anything about this situation with a higher crash speed compare to the 64 km/hour. The number of stars may therefore be misleading when the vehicles are running at normal speed on the road.

The other side is the strength of the human body. How many G can the internal parts of the body manage before parts are thorn loose form the rest of the body? If this limit is 30 to 40 G given by a crash from 65 to 70 km/hour, it does not really matter if the vehicle body can manage more! The maximum G a human body may resist is depending of the condition and age of the individual. At high age, the maximum G is less compared to a young individual.

In addition to this, the new technology opens for cars knowing the speed limit at any place in the road system. This knowledge may be used to restrict the driver form driving at a higher speed then allowed. This system is under testing in Sweden. If implemented on all cars, the added cost per car might be quite limited.

EU-control of vehicles has little effect

In EU the vehicles are controlled for technical faults every second year. In Norway this control costs around 500 million NOK. The Norwegian Road Directorate wanted to know how many accidents this control prevented during a year and engaged a research institute to investigate. The result showed up to be close to nothing. This EU control of the vehicles in Norway could not be shown to reduce the number of accidents at all.

BMW-Italy: "Joy of driving" (GenteMotori, Italy Oct. 2007)

Can the computer detect a drunken driver?

The vehicle driven by Haider with 1.8 %o of alcohol in his blood. He died before he arrived to the hospital. (Foto: Daniel Raunig)

The data logger in the car computer showed a speed in the order of 160 km/hour and the blood test of the killed driver showed a drunken driver. Could the computer in the vehicle detect that the driver was drunken and avoided the fatality? One way to detect this is the instrument for measuring alcohol content in the breath. Do we have other alternatives including for other drugs or combination of drugs and medikaments?

We have all seen a drunken man going on the street. This is not along a straight line. The same type of behaviour has a drunken driver. The driving is not along the smooth curves. Could the computer in the advanced cars be programmed to detect a change of the drivers behaviour? Could the computer further be programmed to limit the speed in these cases with un-normal driving attitude by the driver? May be after one or two verbal warnings in advance. It is no reason why this should not be possible. The system may even learn the typical way of driving for some individuals normally using the car.

Would a vehicle with such a computer be appreciated by the car buyer and the car driver? The drunken driver may not appreciate this type of car. The car buyer is normally not drunken. In this condition most normal intelligent individuals will probably understand that such a computer is a help and not an enemy. This system may even help saving his or her life.

It is not possible in advance to judge to which accuracy this system would work. It will probably not detect the 0.2 %o which is the alcohol limit for driving in some countries. At the other side, the 1.8 %o as Haider had, should not be a problem to detect. The limit is some place in between.

Which manufacturing company is willing to develop the system for their new advanced cars? In this process the testing out of limits for detection, buyers attitudes, etc. have to be evaluated.

This idea is free of charge for the benefit of potential drunken drivers.

The basic problem has parallels to the work underway in Sweden to detect tired drivers.

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