Automobile info

Car-Problems of safety

Each year, motor vehicle accidents kill an estimated 300,000 people throughout the world. A high proportion of those people are young people. In fact, more Americans from 5 to 32 years old die as a result of traffic accidents than of any other cause. Young people also have the highest accident rate of all drivers.

Drivers are the chief factor in vehicle safety because they are responsible for about two-thirds of all accidents. They cause accidents by speeding, driving in the wrong lane, making improper turns, and breaking other rules of safe driving. Many traffic deaths involve drunken drivers. Alcohol slows a driver's reflexes, reduces alertness and concentration, impairs vision, and clouds judgment. The growing use of illegal drugs by drivers is also a serious safety problem.

The car itself has become safer over the years because of advances in its design and manufacture. Car manufacturers must meet strict government standards designed to prevent accidents and to protect drivers and passengers. The standards to prevent accidents involve such things as the installation of government-specified lights, reflectors, brakes, tyres, windows, windscreen wipers, and dashboard controls. Standards to protect car occupants include the installation of automatic seat belts or airbags, head restraints, and bumper systems. Seat belts are probably the main safety equipment. A driver must not assume that a car's engine, brakes, lights, and steering system always operate properly. All equipment should be tested frequently.

Modern roadbuilding techniques have increasingly lowered the risk of car accidents. To build safe roads, engineers consider such factors as road foundations and surfaces, lighting, safety barriers, and grading. They carefully plan bypasses, road junctions, slip roads leading onto major motorways, traffic signals, and the number of lanes.