The Struggle for Safety

After the incident I endured in Laurinburg in 1992, my curiosity about crashes turned into serious research. I wanted to know how it could be that we suffer so much pain and loss on a daily basis in this country, and yet efforts toward achieving real safety seemed to have remained in neutral. I became obsessed and drove myself hard for a seven-year period between 1997 and 2004, learning about all the forces, both physical and political at work in the quest for true automobile safety. It was, to say the least, a sobering task. Never once could I forget that the ultimate stakes involve human life, human loss, and the millions of survivors whose lives are forever changed on America's roadways.

In my research, I discovered that the problem can, in a general sense, be attributed to two specific factors. First of all, the nation's apparent wholesale commitment to safety has not resulted in a significant reduction of deaths, injuries and crashes because of the increasing demand on our transportation infrastructure. Safety efforts by both government and private groups should be recognized, yes, there have been accomplishments - seat belts, air bags, and other performance standards are responsible for saving tens of thousands of lives, but regrettably, such efforts have been overwhelmed by an increasing tide of vehicles, miles drive, alcohol and speed. More people driving, more vehicles being driven, and few miles of new lanes or roads on which to conduct all that driving leads to the kind of congestion that makes crashes more likely.

The second factor, and the one with which this book is primarily concerned, is the fact that we have no standard, reliable means for determining what exactly happens in a motor vehicle crash. The technology exists in the form of motor vehicle event data recorders (MVEDRs), but it's not being widely used.

The bottom line is that the more we know about motor vehicle crashes - the better the opportunity to enhance vehicles.

A Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder (MVEDR) is a device that is installed in a motor vehicle to record technical vehicle and occupant-based information for a brief period of time [i.e. seconds, not minutes) before, during, and after a crash. For instance, MVEDRs may record (1) pre-crash vehicle dynamics and system status, (2) driver inputs, (3) vehicle crash signature, (4) restraint usage/ deployment status, and (5) certain post-crash data such as activation of an Automatic Collision Notification (ACN) system.

In discussing automatic recording devices, notice that the terms EDRs, MVEDRs and black boxes are often intermingled. In some cases we are describing stand-alone devices - in other cases, embedded systems. It is possible to have an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) system, that is one made by the vehicle maker and an after-market device, or both, onboard a vehicle.

Safety in a motor vehicle is not dependent on one system or feature. Safety is divided into three parts: 1) active safety, 2) passive safety and 3) personal safety. Terms applied to these are crash avoidance and crashworthiness. Each one has some features or equipment that can be described as either "active" or "passive."

When automakers design a vehicle that will help the driver avoid crashes, this sometimes advertise this as an example of "active safety." To them, it is better to avoid crashes than to have crashes, and many vehicles are equipped with innovative active safety features such as improved visibility, improved handling, an interior environment with accessible controls, dynamic stability and traction control, and anti-lock braking systems (ABS), just to name a few. Safety advocates, on the other hand, think Active refers to something that requires "active" participation of the driver or occupant - buckling a seat belt, installing a child safety seat, as example.

Then again, when automakers design a vehicle for the prevention or reduction of injury in a collision, they sometime advertise it as "passive safety." To them, passive refers to systems that protect without action of the driver or occupant. Vehicles incorporate elements designed for exceptional rigidity under enormous stress for a quiet ride, handling consistency, and occupant protection. The goal is to absorb, redirect, or dissipate the force of major impact and to protect the occupants. Safety advocates, on the other hand, view passive safety as features that include air bags, side impact protection systems, daytime running lights, and whiplash protection seating systems.

It should be noted that when seat belt use rates were low and "active" safety was not, as a result, working successfully, "passive" restraint systems such as automatic belts and air bags were developed as a means of achieving safety without changing behavior. Generally, active and passive refer to safety equipment rather than design features such as crumple zones that are built in to the vehicle and are necessarily passive. Thus, while some might associate "active" safety with crash avoidance and "passive" safety with crashworthiness, in truth, they are actually apples and oranges - but both important.

The idea of "personal safety" includes foolproof systems that help protect against vehicle theft, forcible entry, theft of personal property, and personal threats.

Necessary to the effective development of all the first two safety features is information about what exactly happens during a crash, both in order to keep occupants safe during one, and more importantly, to prevent them from occurring in the first place. Motor vehicles have markedly transitioned from machines with mechanical controls to highly technological vehicles with integrated electronic systems and sensors. Modern automobiles generate, analyze, and utilize electronic data to improve vehicle performance, safety, security, comfort, and emissions. It is completely possible to generate the kind of crash information that is critical to understanding what causes a crash, the physical motions of a vehicle's occupants, and vehicle performance both during a crash and during the post-crash events. Manufacturers, engineers, policy makers, researchers, and others rely on crash information to improve vehicle design, shape regulatory policy, develop injury criteria, detect vehicle defects, and resolve investigations and litigation. Capturing the data surrounding a crash on a motor vehicle event data recorder (MVEDR) makes important information readily available for medical responders, crash investigators and researchers.

The degree of social benefit from MVEDRs is directly related to the number of vehicles operating with an MVEDR and the ability to retrieve and utilize the data. It doesn't help to have only a few cars outfitted with the device, or to have different devices installed in different vehicles. Having standardized data definitions and formats allows for the useful capture of vehicle crash information.

It has been my privilege to participate in every major MVEDR initiative (60+ meetings) since 1997 and to meet and work with a wide range of professionals from government, industry, and academia. The tremendous amount of research and development achieved over the past seven years demonstrates that there is no technical impediment to making black box technology the standard in all automobiles.

The reason why this kind of technology must be standard on all vehicles is simply this: Motor Vehicle black boxes speak for the victims. They tell the truth in a way that nothing or no one else can.