National Crash Testing Standards Could Start Including Pedestrian Safety

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is proposing an update to crash testing standards that would finally take pedestrian safety into account, reports Colin Woodard in Jalopnik. This would be a major step forward for an agency that, until now, only conducted tests to assess the safety of people inside vehicles.

Woodard writes that “In addition to testing how well vehicles protect pedestrians, the NHTSA’s proposal also includes a plan to set safety standards for automatic emergency braking, which includes pedestrian detection.”

For Woodard and many traffic safety advocates who have expressed concern about increasingly large trucks and SUVs that put pedestrians at higher risk, the actions are long overdue. “Hopefully, adding pedestrian safety tests will not only lead to safer cars but also add a stigma to driving oversized behemoths that are hard to see out of and are a danger to everyone.”

Woodard encourages readers to submit their comments to the NHTSA, which is receiving public comment on the issue for the next two months.