Vol. 26, .5 y .1991

In a mal r poll hI fhlghwa afety oUiela til ac­centuate enforcement in a nat on­aI campaign to fals seat belt userates to 70 percent by 1992.

Th na onal campal In r­porates for the Ii hne, the pn-mar In redlen that ha eproved dramatically ucces ful In

belt use drives In anada an nregional efforts in this country

"Before we've tried public n­formation .. sa Jerr Ralph ur­

ry, administrator of the llonal HiWIWCIYTraffic afety dmlni tratlon HT ,"and w ve gotten belt use up a little. Andwe've tried law, and we'v gotten b Ituse up a good deal more. Th differencethis ime that n 're en~ etho Ia beca that I the onlthat we're going to get belt u reaDy up,And we're going to couple that with publicInformation 0 that people know that it'sImportant to wear their belt and put ch I­dren in safety sea .-

For Curry tha means preparin la Do

forcement agenci ar und the countrnot only to publicIze and encourage beltuse, but to enforce all 50 hild restraintuse laws and the bell use law In taland he District of C lumbia

The place to tarttired rm eneral "I with h

(ConI don Page 2)

the result of welkonceIved strategies im­plemented by provincial governments, I~

cal police fore . and highway safety orgaanization . Road Safel Promotion Is partof the Road et Directorate of Tranport Canada, the agenc that compiled the1990 figures.

Although provincial governments tallorbelt trategles to local conditions, eachprogram has the same basic clemen . for

ral of:firiaIs onduc promotion-al and public education efforts through thmedia Th effort emphasize the safety

(Conl'd on Page 4)

Canada has set a national belt u erecord that's the envy of its next-doorneighbor: 82 percent of Canadian driv rsbuckled up In 1990. Canadian offiCials at­tribute this sue to years of pubUe edu­cation and enforcement t Instill the im­portance of mandatory belt use laws.

In fact two provinces, Quebec, with adriver usage rate of 94 percent and

katche an with 92 percent, not onlylead the other eight provinces, their ratalso rank among the world' best.

The Canadian use rate I says Grantmlth. chief of Road Safety Promotion, are

·'-ItH. • taW Report. Vol. 26. J '0. .5 May 4. J99J

(Cont dfrom Page tThat me ns getting belt use politie Inplace in all police agencl and motivatingJa •eolor menl offi er to 10110 them.fmm he I p br down. Police officers'good example. say Curry, is a rucial part01 promoting belt use among motorI tsand helping to dl pel lin riD myths thad ourage belt us .

Although overall seat belt use jumped2 percentage polnls from an average 14percent In I to 42 percent in I 7. im­p vement inee hen has sJo ed and Isnow static with just under 50 percent ofdnv rs buckling up-even though about

90 percent of the population Ii in areasco ered b r tralnt use law . ChIld re­straint use has lev led off a well, with In­fant and toddler safety eat use hoveringin th low pen: nt rang HTSK' 19-it. urvey how. But r traint use b

older young lers r main di couragtnglylow. with more than 50 percent of thyoun ter and 0 percent of the teensfailin to buckle up.

o monstratlon program conductedby tbe Insurance Institute for Highway

ely and NHTSA have repeatedly hownthat weJl.publicized la enforcement" themost effectlve way to Increase belt use. Toachieve the 70 percent goal, NHT Aoff!­claIs are "Working on a three-pronged tw~

year program.One component involves gaining the

enthusiastic assistance of state and locallaw enforcement agencies. Curry Intend

to accompli h that throu h ·OperationBudde Down.· Together with the interna­tional soelation of Chief of Police(lACP). the ationaJ heriffs Association.and with the support of Traffic Safetya group pon red b dam lic automak:­rs to promote belt u e laws. NHTSA ispOllsorlng a tw~year program to encour­

age Ia enforcement agenci to enforcechild restraint and seat bel use la inroutine traffic operations. Under the pm­gram, grants of $90,000 will be providedfor law enforcement representative topeak 0 local police agencies enlist theirupport. and. using a model enforcement

program developed by the IACp' assl t I~

cal authorities In ettlng agency belt usepolicies and enfortement guidelines.

The second thrust of the program, caDedM70 Percent by '92," consists of two nallon­wide ummer-Iong publk:ity and enforce-

lIHS Status Report, Vol 26. No.5, May 4, 1991-3

begin too. During the week of May 20th,the national publicity campaign will kick­off with "Buckle Up ArnerJca Week." a­tiona!, state, and local press events will beheld to announc the enforcement efforts,and police will begin the two-week bUtz.

This will be easiest in the nine statesthat have laws permitting authorities tostop driver whose drivers or passengersare not buckled up and issue citations orwarnings. In states with secondary en­forcement laws, motorists can be cited forviolating the belt laws only if they arestopped for another infraction. But all 50tales permit pollee to stop motorists who

fail to restrain small children properly, anda few of the chiJd restraint laws coveryoungsters up to the age of 16.

The publicity and enforcement blitzeswill be held again around the July 4th andLabor Day holidays. At the end of eachblitz, observers will assess th'f campaign.

tlon campaign to provide informationabout the benefits of restraints and re­straint iaw enforcement

According to NHT A's strategy, stateand local officials will alert the public tothe importance of using child restraintsand eat belts in early May. They will alsolet them know that the laws will be en­forced. Public service announcements onnational and local radio and television will

And after Labor Day, NHTSA will conductits 19-ctty surveys for final results.

The auto insurance industry has joinedin the third component of the campaJgn.NationWide and Kemper. for example, willmake a training video ror police officers.USM wUl produce an educational videoand public service announcements to beaired around the country. Other organiza­tions are also involved. Ichols says the li-

censed beverage industry wl1ldonate biUboard space andplaster campaign signs on de­livery trucks.

HTSA officials stress thata vital part of the third seg­ment Is marshalling a broad­based coalition of groups:insurers, physicians, parents,teachers, and busJness peopleto createa ground swell for en­forcing belt and child restraintuse laws. This rank-and-file

~ support will be essential to aZ national campaJgn wIth only a

Thi buckle-up photo i intended to help remind vacationers of the nationWIde 5million war chest.child restrumt and belt use law enforcement campaign this summer.

After the summer cam-paign concludes. Nichols ays the agencywill continue to build the coalition, en·courage the remaJning states without beltuse laws to adopt them, and seek tostrengthen weak laws. Agency officialshope to have the program funning in 1.000jurisdIctions by the end of 1991, and in3,000 to 5,000 by the end of 1992, saysAdele Derby, associate administrator fortraffic safety programs.

HTSA expects the majority of the na­tion's largest police agencies will continueto enforce belt use and child restraintlaws, integrating the activity into theirroutine traffic dutJes through the IACPmodel. As the major agencies corneaboard, predicts Hall, the rest of the na­tion's 17,000 police agencies will followtheir example.

"So far: says Nichols, "we're getting aphenomenal response from the lawen­forcement community. I think we canmake tbJs work."

ment efforts. Operation CARE. a programcoordinated by a national organization oftate police and highway patrolmen. will

provide much of the backbone of the sum­mertime blitz, says Jim Nichols, who headsNfITSA's Office of Occupant Protection.

During holidays state police agenciesnormally conduct special patrol activities.such as speed and alcohol enforcement.This year. however, Operation CARE officialswill expand special enforce-ment programs from the usualthree-day efforts to a full twoweeks. Furthermore in addi·tion 10 focusing on speed andalcohol violations, they will en­force child passenger andadult restraint use laws. Whenmotorist are topped, theymay receive acitation or warn­ing. If officers. however. see re­straints being mJsused they'lllake the opportunity to teachproper belt and chUd restraintu wi h he emphasl!i on pas-

nger safety."This i a positive thing."

ays Clay Hall, a NHT Aofficial "It pro­jects a positive Image for the police, whoare sworn to preserve and protect thepublic, and it won't take a lot of re­sources."

Brian O'Neill, president of the Insur­ance Institute for Highway Safety, agrees.aying that "Institute research In Elmira,ew York, and Modesto. California, have

confirmed that vigorous, well-publicizedenforcement programs are effective andVIewed favorably by the public." 0' elUcautions, however, that "the ultimate sue­c of these programs will require a long­term commitment by police and localcommunities. The high belt use ratesamong our Canadian neighbors werea hleved with sustained enforcement pro­gram over a period of several years."

While state and local police agenciesstep up their enforcement efforts, NHTSA,state. and local officials simultaneouslyWIll conduct an extensive public informa·

4-11115 Status Report \obi 26, .5 a. 4 /991

Canada Takes aGlant

(Cont'd from Page J)

advantag s of occupant restraints andaJ motorist to the upcomIng seat beltenlorcement campaign.

Canadian officials ha e found this com­b na ion of nforc ment and publicity.known as a SeJective Traffic EnforcementPr gram (STEP), Increases the percelvedrisk 01 being ticketed and more motorisbu up.

oreo r by arnlng the public of theenforcem nt ffort, the me sage con·veyed is perceived as a safety objectiveand not trlctly as a law enforcement mea­sure: say Claude Dussault, road safetyadviser at th Quebec AutomobUe lnsur·an e orporation. the government agency

own by Is french Initials as the Q.In ddition to being responsIble for high­way safety, SMQ supervises license andregistration activities and provides insur·an cover for bodily injuries, on a no­fa It basis. t Quebec motorist .

Dussault tress the Importance ofcasting TEP in a po itivelight. The Quebec program.for Instance, include anincentive s tern ofvoucher handed out bypolice to motorists whoare buckled up. 0-

torlsts can redeemhalf of the voucherlor a few dollarworth of groceriesand keep the oth­

r half lor achance of win­

ning a free vaca­tion or a car in a grand raffle.

Private companies Dussault sa . dOnaleh prlz nd gain vi ibility for them­I es and the campaignPre- TEP urvey how the current

belt use rates before beginnina anew cam­paign. Th oftidaJs an opportunityto what wiD be needed 0 reach orurpas eat bell u goals. In 19 ue-

bee set Its goat for 90 percent by 1994, andexceeded that figure In the 1990 program.

The frequency of STEP is left to the dis­cretion of the provincial go emment .Quebec has bad only programs inee1 7. B contrast katche an has heldlwo TEPs a year since 19 7. when theprovince launched a five-year program toimprove their 72 percent rate. PaulLandry, assistant vice president for Traffic

ety vices at Saskatche an Go em-ment In urance, add that bet eenTEPs, w conduct routine enforcement

activlty and use every opportunity to talkboul seal belts."

Thi con tant exposure has cau edaskatche an motoTi t to internalize

the message, Landry sa . citing opinionpolls that suggest belt u e habits arechanging because of growing safety con·eerns as well a awarene s of enforce­ment. Both Landry and Dussault stresthe value of researching belt use patternsand targeting each STEP to pecific audionces, uch as young people or parents of

maIl children to increase belt use ratCanada.

berta. sa Coral Thygesen managerf afety pro ramin t he Tran porta­

tlon Safety Branch of Alberta Transporta­tion and Utilities, offer dramatic proof ofthe power 01 a seat belt use la . Thepr vince' mandator u e la as us­pended during m t of I while it asbeln unsucc fully cha1lenged In 000,and the seat b It use rate plummeted fromIts 1988 level of 83 percent to 44 percent.

The law was reinstated in December of1 . and Alberta conducted aSTEP in thepring of 1990. The seat belt use rat re­

bounded to percent, a uJt Thygesenattributed both to STEP and to the pro­tracted and extensive publicity given tothe law while 11 was being litigated.

The oni Canadian province with a ratebe10 0perren is Prince EdwanIIsland.

here 65 percent of the drivers buckle up.By way of comparison. In the UnitedStates, only Hawaii did better than 70 per·cent In the most recent report on ob-erved safety belt use compiled by he Of·

fice of Driver and Pedestrian Research atthe alional Highway Traffic afe d­mini tralion.

I a 1m when the nation i facinsoaring medi aI c . Ih payoff from in-

reased seat belt use can be enormous.he alional Hi h ay Traffic afety Ad·

ministration HTSA) says.From 1984 to 1990, seat belt use among

U. . motorists increased more than three­fold. ri in from 15 percent to nearly 50percent as stales adopted belt use laws.

HT estlm te tha Increase sa edmore than 20 0 0 live and averted

,000 seri injuries.If every person automa icaJly buckled

them In hen they climbed into acar or truck the savings could be fargreater, NHTSA says. In 19 9, for example,45,555 men, women, and children died ofcrash injuries ustained in 40.71 crashes.

h e ~ a n r hidoccupant H estlmat thai if all ve-

hide occupants had been buckled up inthose crashe , more than 15 000 deathsand 400,000 serious injuries could havebe nprevented.

Although it I unlikely that the Unitedtates will achi e a 100 percent bell use

rat it Is likely that usage rat of to 90percenl can be reached if enforcement Ie-

lrictions are repealed, the stat withoutbel use law enact them. and the law arevigorously publicized and enforced over asustained period of time.

In 1989 the Centers for Disease Controlestimated that 1985 motor vehicle traumaco t the nation 49 bUllon In medical

and transfer payments for disability.The true c t of a lifetime mjury and itsdevastating eft on families of injuredper ons cannot be mea ured but re­searchers do kno that all too often, theoutcome is de lablUzalion of familiesthrough marital breakups and financialhardship. ( Status Report, Vol. 24, O.

121 Dec. 9, 1 9.

lOIS alUs Report, L26 .5. ay 4 1991-5

NEW BELT lAWAr~ the first state in 1991 to pass

a safety belt use law, bas found a way toreward emmt motorists for buckling up.

Under the Artaosas~ drivers pulledover for movtng vio1ations can hoe theirapplicable fiDe reduced by if fnmt selloccupants are belted. WyomJDg has asim­Ilar provision in Its belt use law.

The Arkansas belt law calls for sec­ondary enforcement, which means that adriver must be stopped for another of­fense in order to be dted for failing towear a seat belt. The law applies to frontseat occupants of passenger cars, WDS,

and Iigbt trucks.Governor BUI Clinton signed the belt

measure on March 14, 1991, but It doesnot take effect lDltU 90 days after the 1egis­lature adjourns. Arkansas Join 37 otherstates and the District of Columbia thathave passed. seat belt use Jaws since 1984.

6-IIHS tatu Report, Vol. 26, No. S, May 4, 1991

egi al CamD81lDlJS OW the Way ToMo vate Motorists

blitz approach to publicity and enforce­ment could achieve high initial belt uselevels that could then be sustained by in­tegrating belt use enforcement into rou-

tine traffic stops and continued public ed­ucation program . In Greece, N.Y., mo­torist belt use was sustained at a relative­ly high 69 percent at no additional cost tothe police department.

One of the key components the re­searchers found, however, was the need toarouse enthusiasm among police officers."A training program designed to createpositive attitudes among pollce officers Isnecessary. ... The use of safety belts bythe pollee officers themselves would alsocontribute to the public's perception thatthe police are serious about the law." (SeeStatus Report, Vol. 22. No. 13, Dec. 5,1987.)

In the lirst few years after Canada'sprovincial laws were enacted, belt use lev­els were equivalent to those now seen inthe United States. When Canadian policeand government authorities began to con­duct vigorous enforcement and publicityprograms, belt use began to rise and isnow over 80 percent.

B ed n U. . regional experienc , In­stitute researchers believe aggressive pro­grams conducted on a national basis canachieve belt use levels comparable to theCanadian experience.

A number of regional belt use cam­paigns show it Is possible to motivate U.S.motorlsts to buckle up, just as our Canadl·an neighbors do.

In Elmira, New York, for example, insur­ance Institute for Highway Safety re-earchers reported that eat belt use ex­

ceeded 80 percent following a secondthree week campaign of intense publicityand enforcement of the eat belt use lawby local pollee. FollOWing a similar Insti­tute campaign in Modesto, California, beltuse climbed from 31 percent to 52 per­cent.

The seat belt use program model beingfollowed by the National Highway Trafficafety Admin! tralion In Its national cam­

paign is based on these studies and addi­tional ew York tudles in Albany andGreece. Agency researchers learned that a

How Hlgbway PatrolMeetJ the ChalleageOfaSecondary Law

Enforcement of seat belt laws presentsspecial challenges to law officers In manystates, because legislators. wary of offend­ing \'olers. have frequently enacted hob­bling restrictJOns,

In Penns)1vania. for example. the lawrequires police 10 issue a bell use cilationonly il the driver is cited for another in­fraction And the 10 fine for being unbelt­ed may be assessed only if the driver isConvicted of the first offense.

WHAT YOU CAN 00For Ihose llIIanlzalloos that wish to

help. the NalIooa1 Highway Traffic Safely

--(NKISA) suaem:• Adopt a belt use policy for employ­

ees tmeUng 00 company business.• Join the naIIooaI coaIItIoo and publi­

cize III support 01 the child restralnl andsafety belt Ule _am In newsletters,magazines, or regular matllnp 10 mem·bers or CUll........

• Add a safely bell _to any In­IormaUoo dIJtrlbllled to the public,Ao an individuai yoo can:

• _ up 00 t'Itt')' trip and tneOOT·

age your 'amlly aDd 'rlend. 10 do Ihesame.

• '>IJlunlttr to assist locatlllllDlza._In JlIllIIlo/lDll bell ... beIoI< school_.cIvIc:-. and the_• Support salety belt and child ...

_law_Inyoor C<lIDJIIUIIi.

ty It public ....... and by wrttInIllet·1m to the tditoc

For _lboutthe_at to _ saJety belt ....cootad NH1'SA, Oftkt of OccuPlllt PIo­tedIoD,~

IIHS Stalus Report, Itl. 26, No.5, May 4, 1991-1

Altogether, 30 of the 39 belt use kOne of the things lhall've had to do isstatutes stipulate that motorisls may not point out the importance to the officers inbe stopped solely for not using their seat Ihe street,· says Hannigan. ~en they in-belts. Acitation may be issued only when vesligate an accident, I ask them specif!-poUce officers observe another moving vi- cally, 'Were they [deceased occupantsJolation. E\'en under these circumstances, wearing a beh and. if they were not, wouldhowever, law enforcement representatives they have survived the accident if theysay it is possible to raise compliance with had been be.lted?-belt laws if officers remember 10 check Says 11, Art Anderson, a CHP officer: "Itseat belt use dUring routine traffic stops, takes a combination of education and en-

"I think you do it through commit- forcement. Because we have a secondaryment,· says California's Highway Palrol law, we have to pull them over for other(CHP) commissioner, ~aury Hannigan. safety violations. When we pull them over.'"Yk set the objective, I've had my division Ylle always look for the safety belt. If thecommanders set Ihe goals and seal belt public is not wearing the safety bell. thenusage has certainly been a primary focus,· we will issue a citation for that infrac·

The message is getting through. HannI- tion-whether it's not using a child seat organ says. The CHP has Jurisdiction over not wearing a seat beh themselves., ,I96,000 miles of roadway in California. go through a process when I'm IssuIng amuch of it on freeways and In rural areas. citation, [I say1'I want you 10 wear thatLast year the agency wrote over 700,000 safety belt. because you mean a lot to thebelt use citations. and this year they are people you are responsible lor, your rela-being issued at the rate of about 65,000 a tlves, the people you work with, and it willffi(Jnth. The CHP ofllcers themselves save your life,"" The drivers generally real-must wear seat belts and thr ize Ihat the citation is being is-agency conducts a con- i,.tl1 OF TFI. sued because the .policetinuIng pubUc educa- ~1.'tJ. ~N8,o, care about theIr per·tlan program la ,.~t' 0'S> sonal salely, andalert the public Q" ~ the response Isto the law's ~. ~ usually favor·beneills and :::J' ~ able, says An-the facl II Is 0 .... derson.bemg en· ~ But, saysforced by ~ '.; ~ the cammls·

:~!:~ \ plus!#"! E:t;:':;~dicate the en· -SJ,'\ if It had a lawforcement and \."Q~-=, permitting prima-publicity wark. "''''..,. ~ .. ry tnfolCtlllenl. Not-DrIver bell use 00 Cal. 1)fAFAC S..f~' ~ ing thai California Go¥-fornia highways rose from ernor Pete Wilson is sup-54 percenl in J...el98110 69 percenl partlve of a law permitting primaryin ~ber 1990. surveys for the Califor· enforcement, Hannigan predicts thenia Office of Traffic Safely show. Bell use Calilornia legislalure will adopt DDt duringin California cities and suburbs is up as this year's session or next year, -, havewell, averaging 58 percent in November told the governor and his staff if I can1990 surveys. have that law. 1can guarantee that we'lI

save 500 lives in the firs. yw."

'IHS atus Report at 26, , S. Ma)' 4 J J

•

Virginia's safety belt use rate could rl eby six to eight perc ntage points if the stateamends its mandatory use law to permitprimary enforcement which allows policeo issue ti for belt law violations alone.

study by the rginia TransportationCouncil predicts tha the change would in-

the lewlde use rate from i 5 cur·rentleYel of - percent to about 62 percent

The V'Jrglnia Department of otor VehI­cI commissioned he report to determIneif primary enforcement can improve theseat belt use rate. Based on surveys doneby the National Highway Traffic Safety Ad­ministration, the researchers concludethat "although belt use rates io Virginia

ere higher than those In nearly aU stat•hsecondary enforcement, the peak and

r 0 u e rat were belo tho fores with primary enforcement.The researchers also advocate enforce­

ment and educational efforts to el Ir·ginians to buckl up, because they found

that belt u higher in Iocaliti thatcombined strong enforcement with a weU·developed pubUcity campaign.

Earlier this year, a bill that would havepermitted primary enforcement waspassed by the Virginia nate but was notreported out by the House of Delegatescommittee considering the legislation.

"Estimated afety Belt Use Rates forPrimary and econdary Enforcementtalutes: by Chari B. toke and Robert

D. Vander lugt; i available from the Ir­inia Tran portatlon Research Council

Bo 3 1 nlver ity tatlon, Char-lottesville, ~ 22903-0817.

ro to .0CIe1,AutomobUe TheftVari

The 1990 car model with the highestoveraU In urance theft losses Is issan'3OOlX, ith an a eI pa 1petinsured vehicle year of 115. This meansthat for every 300ZX insured against tilan average 115 I paid out in theft claimeach year. The car with the low 0 erall

I i lh Ford Taurus tatloo agon,with an av rage 10 payment per Insuredvehicle year of I than 2.

The five 1990 model year cars with thehigh t frequencies of In urance claimsfor theft Include three Cadlllacs(Brougham and DeVille 2· and +door) plusVolkswagen's Jella 4-door and Honda'sCivic CRX. The car with the rna t frequenttheft claims has a rate nearly 40 tim thatof the car with the fe est th ft claim .These are the results of the !at reporton' urance theft losses pubUshed by theHighway Data Institut

Cars with the 10 t theft claim frequen-des in lude the Pontiac Grand Prix 4-dootFord Taurus station wagon. Mercury Sable4-door. Dodge Grand Caravan. and ubaruLegacy 4-wheeJ drive station wagon.

"In orne cases theft claim are forstolen vehicle components, /Ike radiosrather than for theft of the veh them­selves," explains Brian 0 II. HLDI presi-dent. cars ith lh milthef Jill aren' oec ar I the carwith the most costly claim. high pro­portion of theft claims. for example.Ioval radl :

OHS Status Report, Vol. 26, No.5, May 4. 1991-9

Curry Will Not Oppose Bill to Manda eAir Bags

'The groWlIIg publIc aWtIm1eSS of air bags has led many manufacturers to adopt air bags in ?'ace ofautomatic bells or to accelerate their plans for installing air bags, "says Jerry Ralph CUTTY, chiefof theNational Highway Traffic Safely Administration.

Institute Urges UseOf New Dummy InSide Impact Testing

Consumers could be provided a valu­able source of information on the perfor­mance of vehicles in crashes jf the federalgovernment takes full advantage of an ad­vanced test dummy developed by GeneralMotors. says the Insurance Institute forHighway Safety.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Ad­ministration (NHTSA) Is consIdering Incor­porating side Impact crash tests into Itsnew car assessment program (NeAP) thatprovides crashworthlness informationabout new carsto consumers.

ow that the NlfI'SA has upgraded theside strength requirements of safety stan­dard 214, officials say they could begintesting cars and releasing the results toconsumers in the 1994 model year.

The agency's informai proposal, whichneed not follow formal rulemaking proce­dures, responds to criticism that the pre­sent NCAP test provides only limitedcrashworthiness information to con­sumers because it is only afrontal crash.

Allan F. Williams institute vice presi­dent for research, says it is appropriate forNHTSA to consider providIng informationto consumers so they can make judgmentsabout the relative side crash protection of­fered by new vehicles. But the agencyshould consider using the latest availabletest dummy and consider broadening itsinjury measurement criteria to include da­ta not now Incorporated in the new sidecrash standard. The new standard Injurycriteria are now limited to thoracic andpelvic trauma measures. Although the re­duction of these injuries Is Important, al­most one-half of all side crash fatalities arethe result of head injuries.

Moreover "if serious and life-threatenlnginjuries are to be reduced in side impacts,standards that address the protection ofthe head must be in place." says WIlliams.

bill's Implementation schedule sayCurry, "Is not unreasonable and generallycoincides with what we believe will hap­pen anyway."

Thomas H. Hanna, head of the MotorVehicle Manufacturers Association,told the committee that all of its mem­bers-Chrysler, Ford, General Motors,Honda, and Volvo-llbave' Indicated theyplan to have alr bags as standard equip­ment In both the driver and front seat out­board passenger positions in all their carsby the mid-1990s." Nonetheless they can­not support the air bag legislation, Hannasays, because It mandates design stan­dards and reduces the ability of manufac­turers to respond to unexpected events,such as interruptions in supply.

However, Ben Kelley, president of theInstitute for lnjury Reduction warned thepanel: "Let us not forget also that themanufacturer who gives may later takeaway. Your bill would eliminate manufac·turer whim as a future determinant ofwho shall have or not have air bag protec­tion, and when."

ate bill to require all passengervelll es 10 be eqUipped ~7th air bag \~1JJ

go unopposed by the alional HighwayTraffic Safety dmlnistration, the agency'administrator says.

In a hearing before the Consumer Sub­committee of the Senate Commerce, Sci­ence, and Transportation CommIttee. JerryRalph Curry noted that S. 591's 1997 mod­el year date for driver side alr bags andthe 1998 date fOI full lront air bags lIareclose to being practicable." (See Status Re­port, Vol. 25, No.3, March 16,1991.)

In a reference to the agency's extensionof the automatic crash protection provi­sions of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Stan­dard 208 to pickups, vans, utility vehicles,and small buses, Curry noted the bl1Jwould implement the alr bag requirementa year earlier than the agency's final rule.(See NHTSA Extends, Page 10.)

"The worst case Is that the deadlineset by the bill could present difficulties,

since light trucks present new and com­plex engineering challenges that may re­quire further rulemaklng during ourphase-In schedule," said Curry. But the

I():..f{HS tatu Report, Vol.26 0. 5, May 4. 1991

tall air bag rather than automatic belts.U ht tru and buses equipped ith adri Ide air bag 1M be equipped withmanual sat belts on the passenger deand ill omply with the new tao-dard through the 1 model yeat

The rule Ube implemented over fourears, to give manufacturers time to pre­

pare. Beginning pl 1, 1994, the start ofthe 1995 model year. manufacturer m tequip 20 percent of their light true man­ula tured for sale with driver air bags orautomatic seat belts. fifty percent mustbe so-equipped during the 1996 modelyear, 90 percent by the 1997 model year,and 100 percent by the 1998 model year.

An alternative phase4n schedule wouldallow manufacturer to postpone the firstyear of Implementation by one year, but inthe foUowtng model year 1996, all of their1Igh true would have to be equipped

th utomatic protection.Th agen al 0 ruled that camperd motor hom mus equip d

u rna rain . These vehlldesnot igned primarily for use in urban ar·

sa ,"nor is there an reasono bellev that safety belt use In th e­

hi i ubstantlally greater than In oth­er types of light trrn:ks."

Part of Nationwide Insurance's safe.drilling campaign this year will be an effort to canlllne teenagedrillers of th dangers of drinking and drIVing. Dunng the $6 milliIJn multImedia cam·

paign whIch; In lis second year. ationwlde will donale750 passive alcohol ensors to

polKe and menU'. de­partments and highulQpa1TOI

automobile indu try generall upportedeconcepGeneral otors calls the implementa-

•OIl schedule "reasonable. adding it "rec­ognizes the man ne regulatory burdensfacing the auto Industry in the mld-I990s.w

And AI lechter, hry ler' director of Fed­eral Affairs, agree the Implementationschedule provid adequate lead time formanufacturers.

Robert H. Mun on, director of Ford'sAutomotive Safety Office, ays It "agreeswith lITSN action In principle becausewe believe upplementaJ air bags offer ig­nlficantly impro ed era h protection,when used in combination with the tan­dan) seat belt ~

Since 1990 all automobiles must bemanufactured th a driver-5lde air bag orautomatic seat belt in houtboard franseat itions. n Inage air bag installation,passenger Ide automati restraint require­ment until the 1994 model year for carequipped with driver-side air bag .

The light truck regulation contains asimilar Incentive for manufacturers to in-

In a ignlficant saf development forth o'm IIgh truck market, manufa •ture mu begin pr viding air bag r au­om tic seat belts in the 1995 model ar.

Th 0 rule could a e up to 2.000Bv annually. the federal gOY mmeotsa . In 19 I the latest year lor whl h la­tallty information is available, ,619 occu­pant of light trucks died of InJurl re­ceived In crashes.

"This I the most important lep wehay taken to assure the same sal ty tan­dard appl to light trucks and passengerc .~ sa Jerry Ralph Curry administratorof th aliona! Highwa Traffic ely Ad-ministration A. Today light trueand vans are extrmleIy popular as passeD-

car ubstitutes and their occupan de­h additional safety protection.

Th ex n ion of th aut rna if r ~

stra nt provl 'ons of Federal or hidf tandard to all light

tru will a UTe that all new pas engerehlcl II be eqmpped with air bags or

automatic eat bel by he tart of the1998 model year. Ught trucks and vans a ­ount for approximately one-third of all

new passenger vehicle sales each y ar.In comment to the docket, the Insur­

anc In tltute for Highway afety tronglyupported ext n Ion of the tandard to

light true . aylng the te hnol gy i"readll. tran ferable from pa ngerar.~ e tatu Report, Vol. 25, o.

Aprll7 990.ognizlng tha air bag provid ai edg Chrysler has begun pro­p nat air bags in I 1991 passeD-

r and Ford It win in tall driv-er Ide air as standard equIpment oni I 2 ro ar small van and fulJ..slze [­150 and E·250 Econoline van model. Ithth 2~ ear battle lor air bag in passengerar "nail over by the Lime NTH Apro­

pos d the application to light trucks. the

esearchers Spot Over Half the Tractor TrailersOperating Radar Detectors on Ohio Highways

Surveys bow mere than one-half ofthe tractor trailers and 32 percent of thesport and specialty cars observed onOhio Interstates possess a working radardetector, the State Highway Patrol reports.

For the nearly one in four vehicles de­tected with operating radar detectors, "Itcan be assumed that each and everyoneof these vehicle [drivers] is consciouslyexceeding the posted speed limit to somedegree," the report says.

Researchers conducted the surveys inlate August 1990 on five Interstatethroughways and two city bypasses. Theresearchers, stationed in unmarked patrolvehicles at paved crossovers at various lo­cations on the routes, found 23 percent ofall vehicles surveyed had operating radardetectors. Observers used an InterceptorVG-2 radar detector detector facing theoncoming traUie. The researchers con·

dueled the surveys in 55 mph and 65 mphspeed zones.

Tractor trailers were the vehicles mostlikely to have radar detectors. Of the 778tractor trailers observed. 55 percent wereeqUipped with operating radar detectors.Although only 13 percent of passengercars had radar detectors in use, 32 per·cent of the sports and speciaity cars and15 percent of the light trucks seen wereoperating a worldngradar detector.

Radardetectoruse wasmost com­mon on major Interstate throughways,compared with bypasses and connectors.Use was most prevalent between midnightand 6 a.m. Among tractor trailer opera­tors, however, the greatest radar detector

IIHS Status Report. Vol. 26, No. 5, May 4. 199.1-1J

BICYCLE HELMETSA new law requiring children and

adults in Victoria, Australia, to wear hel­mets when bicycling is a dramatic suc­cess, road authorities s/4Y-

Surveys conducted in March andagain ro July, just after ttie law took ef­fect In and ar.ound the capital city of Mel­bQume, show helmet use among prlm.aryschool students rose from 65 to 94 -per­cent. Among secondary schoo) students,helmet use rose from 37 to 87 percent.And of 2,098 adult commuter cyclistssurveyed In the Melbourne area, 89percent obeyed the new law, comparedwith 44 percent voluntarily wearing hel­mets In- March. Eighty percent of theadult riders were mafe, but observersfound virtually no difference in helmetuse between the sexes.

The new law makes helmet use com­pulsory for all cyclists riding in publicplaces. Authorities can assess a$15 penal­ty for failing to use a helmet, and poUcemay also notify parents if youngsters ridewithout helmets on. The Jaw was publi­cized In a print, Tv, and radio campaign,with the slogan, "Bicycle helmets: Don'thft the road without one." Posters target­Ing teenagers were also used.

use occurred between 6 p.m. and mid­night.

~Speeds of free-flowing vehlc.les onOhio's major rural Interstate highwayshave been steadily Increasing throughoutthe 1980s," the researchers note. ~This

was greatly accelerated in 1987 when theOhio legislature enacted the 65 mphspeed limit on the rural Interstate systeJILIn the 10 years prior to 1987, the 85th per­centile speed ... averaged 63.7 mph. Since1987 it has Increased to 67.6 mph. Thusfar in 1990, it has averaged over 70 mphfor the first time since 1973 when the 55mph national speed llmit was enacted."

Vol. 26 No.5, May 4. 1991

VEHICLE UE CTIJRERS must beginproviding air bags or automatic seat belts In1995 light truck models Page 10

RAD DEIECTORS: Surveys sho morethan one-balf of the tractor trailers and 32percent the ports and pedalty cars obo

rved on Ohio Interstates a work-mg radar detector .. .__Page 1)

81 CI.E HElMETS: e helme la inralla raises primary chool tudentso percent ...._ ..._ ..._.Page 11

SEAT BELT CAMPAI : NHT ugg tways that organizations can help with thenational belt use campaign Page 7

VIRGINIA'S BEI1 rate could ri b Ixo eight percentage point if the tat

amends its mandator u la to permitprimary enforrement...._...._ .._ P

THEFI' : The 1 ar model withthe hIgbest overall insuran theft• Ul>;1Gu';) 300ZX ._ _ _ Page

ate bill 0 require all passen­ger vehid to be equipped with air bagswill not be opposed b Page 9

cr .Uthe federal v-ernment takes IuD advan age of • ad-vanced test dummy, the JnstJtute sa con-sumers could have a valuable sourte of In-fonnation _ _ ......Page 9

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