IIHS Says Feds Need To Start Concentrating On REAL Safety Concerns Not Recalls

Problems like unintended acceleration and distracted driving have blinded public policymakers to more important traffic safety issues, according to a recent report by Adrian Lund, President of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The IIHS has become known as one of the nation’s leading safety advocates, mainly for its demanding testing and rating of vehicles’ crashworthiness. The agency is supported by the insurance industry.

To reduce deaths on America’s roads, Lund says, the most important safety issues that need to be addressed are speeding and running red lights, which he says have gotten short shrift to debates over unintended acceleration and driver distraction. He blames both the media and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for losing focus.







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Larrybel2000 - 8/27/2010 6:55:25 PM

+1 Boost

Forget the red light/speed cams and hire a cop. Stimulus.

tango - 8/28/2010 12:16:32 AM

+2 Boost

This clown Lund is living in 1974 or what? Lower speed limits do not prevent accidents. They fill city and state purses with coin. That's all. Speed limits have never been about safety. These people don't seem to understand that you can only make a car so safe without input from the driver. The more so-called safety devices they mandate in cars is the heavier they become and the more unlikely cars will become at meeting fuel economy figures. They need to make up their minds here and stop screwing around.

Larrybel2000 - 8/28/2010 12:10:27 PM

+1 Boost

tango. I agree.

85bmw745i - 8/28/2010 11:18:36 PM

0 Boost

Teach people here in America how to drive, ban cell phone usage. People these days depend too much on technology and not enough on common sense. Technology is to make life easier, and to make cars safer, not to replace a drivers intelligence, skill or lack there of

Chaordic1 - 8/28/2010 11:31:24 PM

+2 Boost

In cities we could reduce accidents if we had coordinated traffic lights which would discourage people from speeding in order to beat the upcoming red light. Sometimes something as simple as extending the period of time that the yellow light is on will reduce the number of accidents occurring at an intersection.

In many rural parts of the country there are places where if 2-lane highways were replaced with 4-lane highways we could reduce a large number of head-on crashes caused by people trying to pass slower-moving traffic.

Tango is correct about speed being a cause of accidents. Speed limits (and traffic cameras) have more to do with filling a given city's, county's or state's coffers with cash than any concern about safety or human life.

85bmw745i - 8/30/2010 7:20:35 PM

+1 Boost

I totally agree. Here in Louisiana, the when the stop light turns red the other direction turns green at the exact same time, so if you run the light people start going as soon as your side turns red. There should be 2 second pause between when one turns red and the other turns green. Traffic lights definitely need to be coordinated better.

Joe_Limon - 8/30/2010 9:46:14 PM

+1 Boost

In our padded cozy society almost everybody has become accustomed to the idea that if they get in a serious crash, their car is/should have been designed to save them. I think this is retarded, the more government regulation that is seen in the automotive industry the worse off it will be. If a driver wishes to buy a vehicle that is safe, then let it be his choice! If a driver would rather have a fuel efficient cheap vehicle to get them from a to b while using their brains to stay out of accidents, let them have that choice as well.