Politicians must put public interest before that of the car industry

Education and debate p 1145

Road crashes are the leading cause of death and hospital admission for people under the age of 45 years in the European Union. There are 40 000 road deaths a year, and the European Commission has recently set an ambitious target to reduce road deaths by 50% by 2010.1 But meeting this goal requires the European Union to perform better as a whole than any one member state has to date.

Few road safety measures are better researched than those for safer car fronts to protect pedestrians and cyclists2 (p 1145). This results from a 22 year old research and development programme coordinated by the European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee. The committee originally proposed car tests in 1991 and updated them in 1994 and 1998. 3 4 These tests are an integrated package of four tests for impacts to parts of the body that are injured most often. …