bhp: Passenger Safety vs. Pedestrian Safety

It’s perhaps safe to say that passenger safety has come a long way given the advancement in technologies used in today’s cars. With independent car safety assessment programme like the Euro NCAP, manufacturers are pressured to keep build safer cars. The consumer will obviously pick a 5-star rated car over a 3-star rated car should price not be an issue. I too know of friends who don’t mind shelling out extra just to get a 5-star rated car over a 4-star. So much the better right?

adult-sized crash test dummies

There is however one aspect of car safety that hasn’t seen as much development. Though pedestrian safety is part of NCAP’s rating programme, manufacturers haven’t yet put in that much effort in making cars safer for pedestrians in an event of a collision. That said, when meat meets metal, even a 3 year old knows to say “ouch” or “pain”. Matter of fact is, most car buyers even till today do not seem to care that much about a car’s pedestrian safety rating. If they do, they aren’t showing it. We could all say it’s human nature that we are all selfish. Fact remains that in an event of a traffic collision, we’ll place more emphasis in protecting the occupants in our car over whatever else is going on outside the safety of our cabin.

Fifth Gear – Pedestrian Safety in Car Collisions Pt.1

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There are some manufacturers who are making some headway in the advancement of pedestrian safety. Ironically though, these will be considered miniscule efforts by any means. Sadly, they are ‘advancements’ so to speak. Some recent ones include pedestrian friendly bumpers and bonnets. Honda has been making bumpers ‘softer’ on the pedestrian in recent years. Mercedes has made the bonnet of their cars ‘pop’ upwards in an event of a collision hoping to buffer travel distance between the head of a pedestrian to the engine block.

Fifth Gear – Pedestrian Safety in Car Collisions Pt.2

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The reality is this. Say we are all in a little city car. Pick any city car made in the last 10 years and chances are it comes standard with an airbag.

So we are driving along at a snail’s pace of say 30 km/h (~20 mph) along a small lane with cars parked on both sides.
First thought is how many of us will actually drive that slowly when we are used to doing at least 90-100 km/h (62 mph) on the highway.
The legal speed limits for local road here are 50 km/h (~30 mph) anyway.

Anyways, let’s assume that we are driving along at 30 km/h here. Out of no where, a child bolts out in between cars parked alongside the road. Like most folks, if your reflexes are sharp, you’ll manage to slam on the brakes in an instant. In the unfortunate event that you aren’t able to stop in time or worst still were distracted and didn’t hit the brakes? Your airbag may not even need to go off to protect you or your passengers. One can pretty much figure out who’s going to be walking away here.

So, airbags for pedestrians? Hell if I knew it will work. A encapsulating bubble that ‘catches’ the pedestrian in a bubble will be great. Ok, too much of bubble boy here but I think you get the picture.