The U.S. has fallen behind other industrial nations in auto safety because of industry pressure and a failure to impose tough regulation, an article in the Journal of Public Health Policy argues.
In 1966, the government established the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reduce injuries and deaths by setting safety standards for cars and trucks and forcing recalls of defective vehicles. But according to the article’s author, Benjamin Kelley, Congress has never funded the agency adequately or given it authority to overcome industry resistance.
Particularly under Republican administrations, NHTSA has been held back in its ability to protect the public, writes Kelley, a safety consultant and one-time NHTSA official.
Most years, Kelley notes, more than 40,000 people in the U.S. die in road accidents. Although deaths fell in 2008 and 2009, he attributes that to the recession–a bad economy means fewer people are able to afford cars, gas or long trips.
If and when the economy rights itself, the U.S. road death toll can be expected to reach at least 40,000 a year as driving increases and exposure to injury increases with it. As the human damage grows, so will its economic cost.
In contrast, the article says, countries such as Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan are meeting strict standards to reduce traffic fatalities.
To reduce accidents and fatalities, Kelley argues that NHTSA needs to be able to levy larger fines against “misbehaving” manufacturers. The $16.4 million Toyota was fined for failing to inform NHTSA about sudden acceleration, he says, pales in comparison to the $2.3 billion drug company Pfizer paid for unlawful marketing of its drugs.
U.S. regulators and the industry, Kelley says, should narrow the difference in size and mass of cars on American roadways — collisions between small cars and SUVs and pick-up trucks often are deadly. He notes that SUVs and pick-ups also are dangerous to their own occupants because of their propensity to roll over.
