Vehicle Safety—a Review for 1993

Abstract

The decreases in road accident casualties in Great Britain and other European countries should not obscure the likelihood that numbers will increase in the long term unless vehicle speeds are reduced at potential danger spots. There is also the need to take whatever safety measures are available. The Thirteenth International Experimental Safety Vehicles Conference in Paris at the end of 1991 provided an opportunity to review the technical progress that has recently been made towards improved vehicle safety measures. This paper attempts to review much of the work presented to the conference and to suggest the best way forward for many aspects of vehicle safety. These range from accident studies to developments in vehicle control and handling, protection for the legs of motorcyclists, the opportunity for introducing measures to protect pedestrians and the latest advances in the protection for car occupants. Overall the need is seen to develop vehicle safety measures rapidly to permit the introduction of environmental restrictions on vehicle fuel consumption and design without cancelling the advances being made in casualty reduction.