Australia ’ s Zero road deaths target ?
So why are 3-star or less cars , SUV ’ s and commercial utilities ‘ Coffins on Wheels ’ still permitted travel on our roads ?
WORDS BY RAPHAEL GRZEBIETA
Emeritus Professor ( Road Safety ) Transport and Road Safety ( TARS ) Research Centre , School of Aviation , UNSW Sydney
Adjunct Professor Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine Department of Forensic Medicine , Monash University
The Australian Government Joint Select Committee on Road Safety started its hearings in mid-September . Seventy submissions were made . Two submissions that are particularly interesting are those from the Australian New Car Assessment Program ( ANCAP ) submitted by ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg and the one from ARRB submitted by engineers Tia Gaffney and David McTiernan .
Most fleet managers will know that ANCAP rate the safety of new vehicles from 0 to 5 stars for new passenger , sports utility vehicles ( SUV ) and light commercial vehicles ( LCV ) sold in the Australia and New Zealand . Their rating system is based on a range of destructive physical crash tests , an assessment of on-board safety features and equipment , and performance testing of automated collision avoidance technologies . Interestingly , the composition of the star ratings for Australia according to ANCAP is 5-Star : 92 %; 4-Star : 3 %; 3-star or less : 1 % and unrated : 4 %. In other words , a total of 8 % of vehicles are 3-star or less .
The ARRB submission cited the Western Australian Royal Automobile Club ’ s Alex Forrest ’ s statement that “ Testing has shown that in a vehicle-to-vehicle crash , the driver of a 2-star rated vehicle would probably receive severe head and brain injuries or even be killed , but the driver of a 5-star vehicle is more likely to walk away unhurt ”. This is consistent with graphic 64 km / h head-on crash tests carried out respectively by : ANCAP between a newer 2015 Toyota Corolla ( 5-star ) and a much older 1998 model ( 0-star ); the US Insurance Institute of Highway Safety between a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu ( 5-star ) and a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air ( not rated but ≈ 0-star ); and Global / Euro NCAP ’ s Ford Fiesta from 1998 ( 1-star ) and one from 2018 ( 5-star ). Viewing these videos on YouTube ’ s ‘ Old Cars vs New Cars Crash Test Compilation – Car Safety Evolution ’ reveals sickening vision of the driver crash test dummy in the older vehicle ’ s being crushed because of lack of occupant crashworthy cabin integrity , i . e . collapsed weak door structural components allowing steering wheel and floor intrusion and failing seat fixtures .
8 ISSUE 31 OCTOBER 2021 / WWW . AFMA . ORG . AU