Car manufacturers spend millions on safety for drivers and passengers - but what about pedestrians? The safety of those outside has not been seen as being as important as the safety of those inside. There are exceptions - Ford is redesigning the Focus with special pedestrian-friendly features. Barry McCall reports
In the early days of automotive transport little regard was paid to the safety of the passengers and drivers who were mad enough to travel in highly dangerous contraptions such as steam trains and horseless carriages. After all, doctors warned people of the dangers of simply travelling at speeds in excess of 20 mph with no thought for what might happen if they crashed.
It was thought that such breakneck speeds could have adverse affects on internal organs and even bring on conditions such as brain fever in sensitive ladies.
The safety focus was entirely on the pedestrian and other road users such as horses. Because the early rail tracks tended to run alongside roads with no protective barriers, novel ways were developed to safeguard pedestrians who might walk into the path of an oncoming locomotive.
Among the more conventional was the introduction of a mandatory steam whistle to warn off pedestrians and animals who may have strayed onto the line. More unusual was the fitting of a softly upholstered sofa to the front of locomotives - in the event of the locomotive colliding with a pedestrian the theory was that the foolish foot traveller would have a soft landing and possibly be conveyed to their ultimate destination rather more quickly and more comfortably than anticipated.
These days things are somewhat different. Pedestrians now seem to be a secondary consideration and driver and passenger safety are at a premium.
Makers spend millions on advertising campaigns showing us how their cars can save our lives in a collision - as long as we're actually in the vehicle. Road safety campaigns still concentrate on belting up, driving within the speed limit, and eschewing the demon drink.
However, an article by JR Crandall in the latest British Medical Journal suggests that we should be paying more attention to pedestrian safety. According to Crandall, collisions between pedestrians and road vehicles present a major challenge for public health, trauma medicine and traffic safety professionals.
More than a third of the 1.2 million people killed and the 10 million injured annually in road traffic crashes worldwide are pedestrians. Compared with injured vehicle occupants, pedestrians sustain more multi-system injuries, with concomitantly higher injury severity scores and mortality. In Britain pedestrian injuries are more than twice as likely to be fatal as injuries to vehicle occupants.
The report goes on to say: "Despite the size of the pedestrian injury problem, research to reduce traffic related injuries has concentrated almost exclusively on increasing the survival rates for vehicle occupants. Most attempts to reduce pedestrian injuries have focused solely on isolation techniques such as pedestrian bridges, public education and traffic regulations and have not included changes to vehicle design.
"The lack of effort devoted to vehicle modifications for pedestrian safety has stemmed primarily from a societal view that the injury caused by a large, rigid vehicle hitting a small, fragile pedestrian cannot be significantly reduced by alterations to the vehicle structure.
"Crash engineers, however, have long been aware that the same principles of car safety design that have produced enormous benefits for vehicle occupants can be extended to provide a safer environment for pedestrians during impact with the exterior of a vehicle."
While this may be seen as a view from a medic at the sharp end of the statistics, it is also borne out by a recent report from the European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP) whose safety tests have condemned new cars for their lack of pedestrian friendliness. With very few exceptions new cars are far safer for occupants than for pedestrians.
For example, the latest BMW 3-series scores four stars out of five for occupant safety, while it scores just one out of five for pedestrian safety.
Things are changing, however. Manufacturers such as Ford are coming up with innovative design changes aimed at making life safer for the foot brigade. Ford engineers at the company's accident research centre in Germany are redesigning the Focus salon to reduce lower leg, thigh and head injuries to pedestrians.
The car features a possibly unique pop-up bonnet which, unlike most bonnets, tilts forward. The bonnet comes with in-built electronic sensors which detect when the car has struck a pedestrian along the forward section of the bonnet or the bumper.
The impact triggers a mechanism which sends the bonnet upwards to soften the impact and prevent the pedestrian's head coming into contact with either the windscreen or the solid metal engine parts beneath the bonnet.
The bumper shape has also been redesigned. It has been constructed using a number of foam layers which have different densities giving a sponge-like effect which actually supports the lower legs of a pedestrian and moves them out of the way.
Conventional bumpers, on the other hand, simply break or trap the legs under the front of the car, often causing horrific injuries.
Another feature of the people friendly Focus is its retractable headlights which automatically pull back following a collision, meaning that there is less danger of cuts to the pedestrian due to broken glass.
While we may never have cars with exteriors made of foam rubber or bumpers with sofas attached, it does appear that the motor manufacturers, with Ford leading the way, are finally getting the message that the pedestrian matters too.