About Pedestrian Protection
This information sheet outlines what measures can, and are, being taken to improve the design of cars so that drivers are less likely to hit pedestrians in the first place, and so that when such collisions do happen, the pedestrian will suffer less severe injuries.
Although the pedestrian casualty rates have dropped over the last few years, accidents are still happening and Table 1 below shows the number of pedestrian injuries in 2010.
|
| Fatalities |
Serious Injuries |
Slight Injuries |
All Injuries |
| Children (0-15) |
26 |
1,620 |
6,283 |
7,929 |
| Adults (16-59) |
224 |
2,475 |
11,019 |
13,718 |
| Adults (60+) |
155 |
1,020 |
2,472 |
3,602 |
| All Pedestrians * |
405 |
5,200 |
20,240 |
25,845 |
Table 1, showing the number of pedestrian casualties in 2010
* Includes cases where age was not reported. Source – Reported Road Casualties Great Britain 2010: Annual Report
How do you make cars safer for pedestrians?
Traditionally, vehicle safety has tended to focus on improving the protection that a car can offer to an occupant, but vehicles can also be designed to be safer for pedestrians if an accident occurs.
Pedestrian protection is achieved by designing the front of a vehicle so that pedestrians and other vulnerable road users are less likely to be injured if they are hit, and European legislation has now been introduced to ensure that all cars offer some level of protection.
It will never be possible to design car fronts so that they do not injure pedestrians in all circumstances, but there is much more that can be done to change the shape and the stiffness of car fronts so that injuries are less likely and less severe. The changes in the shape of many modern vehicle fronts, compared to older vehicles, has been influenced by pedestrian protection.
In general, vehicle designs can be modified to protect pedestrians by increasing the crush depth between the outer surface of the vehicle and hard objects underneath (such as engine parts), and also by modifying the stiffness of the vehicle’s structure below the outer surface so that in an impact it absorbs as much energy as possible without causing injury.
An organisation called EuroNCAP has been conducting crash tests on cars for over 10 years. The cars that they test are given star ratings for the level of occupant and pedestrian protection that the car offers, and most manufacturers try to achieve the highest rating possible when designing their cars. Whilst the ratings for vehicle occupants have been steadily increasing, improvements in pedestrian protection have been less rapid - the majority of cars achieve less than half marks..
How can you test how safe a car front is?
There are many different approaches that can be taken. One manufacturer has developed their own pedestrian crash test dummy so that they can replicate what would happen in a crash. Computer programmes are also extensively used to model the front of vehicles and the dynamics of an accident.
The tests used by EuroNCAP and in European legislation use impactors that are fired into the car front at specific speeds. Impactors are used, rather than a pedestrian dummy, to ensure the repeatability of the experiment.
Real world studies which examined the frequency and severity of pedestrian injuries were used to determine which areas of the car front will be tested by the impactors - and so each impactor tests how much a car front will prevent a common real world injury.
The deceleration of the impactors is measured to assess the energy absorption characteristics of the different parts of the vehicle. The severity of the injury is dependant on the force that the vehicle exerts on the impactor during the test - the greater the force, the more likely the injury caused by the car front would be serious or fatal.
There are four specific tests that have been designed to test the vehicle front.
Lower legform to bumper
This test is designed to replicate the initial contact between a pedestrian and a car.
Generally speaking, most bumpers will hit a pedestrian below the knee. This can result in injuries to the bones below the knee (the tibia and the fibula). This test aims to reduce the incidence of these injuries by encouraging car designs with bumpers that deform and efficiently control the energy absorption on contact. The test also helps to prevent injuries to the knee, which can frequently result in long term disability.
Upper legform to bonnet leading edge
This test replicates the top of the leg contacting the leading edge of the bonnet. It also offers protection for an adult pedestrian’s hip and also to the upper body or head of younger children.
Headform to bonnet test
The headform to bonnet tests are performed so that car designs will offer protection to both adult and child heads. The bonnet is the part of the car most likely to cause a head injury to a pedestrian in an accident.
Space must be created between the bonnet and engine components underneath in order to create a “safe” bonnet that will pass this test. The bonnet itself will also absorb some of the energy in a controlled manner to prevent injury.
In addition, by making the front of the car more forgiving, these tests go someway to help prevent injuries to cyclists and other vulnerable road users.
When will cars on the road comply with the legislation?
A European Regulation is being introduced to ensure that all cars on the road will meet a minimum standard of pedestrian protection. The tests are being introduced in two phases with the second set of tests being more stringent than the first.
One of the clauses in the current draft Regulation is that all vehicles will have to be equipped with a braking system known as Brake Assist (BA), which increases the rate at which pressure is applied through the braking system in an emergency. You can visit the RoSPA fact sheet on Brake Assist to find out more.
The dates below are the past and proposed dates for introduction.
1st October 2005 – All new types of vehicle now have to meet the Phase 1 test requirements.
1st July 2008 – Brake Assist is required to be fitted to all new vehicles.
1st September 2010 – All new types of vehicle will have to meet the Phase 2 test requirements.
31st December 2012 – All new vehicles placed on the market will have to meet the Phase 1 test requirements.
2015 - All new vehicles placed on the market will have to meet the Phase 2 test requirements.
Technology will help cars to meet the legislation and prevent injuries in methods other than simply modifying a car's front. The first pop-up bonnets have been tested and will be available to buy very soon. In future, vehicle sensors could also be used to alert drivers to pedestrians.
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