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.October 29, 2003
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This Week:

• Nissan : The design transcends time and space to blend Edo's traditional arts and crafts with advanced styling

• Fiat and General Motors Announce Agreements Relating to Their Strategic Alliance

• GM Debuts New HUMMER, SEMA Vehicles, Accessories At 2003 SEMA Show

• Chrysler Group Announces New Appointments in Product Development

• Renault Mégane - A 100bhp version of the 1.5 dCi engine puts the pressure on …

• Toyota Announces Pricing for All-New 2004 Tundra Double Cab Pickup

• New General Motors Study Shows Daytime Running Lamps Continue To Reduce Crashes

• Ford's Haren Gandhi Awarded National Medal Of Technology For Catalyst Research

• BMW X5 for 2004

• Golf demonstrates fuel saving potential

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New General Motors Study Shows Daytime Running Lamps Continue To Reduce Crashes
 

Safety Feature Cuts Daytime Multi-Vehicle Crashes Up To 12.5 Percent, Car-Pedestrian Crashes By Up To 15 Percent DETROIT, Mich. - Continuing its safety and technology leadership, General Motors today announced results of a study that shows GM customers have avoided well over 37,000 collisions since daytime running lamps (DRLs) became standard equipment in 1995. DRLs, exterior front lamps that automatically illuminate when a vehicle is started, increase vehicle visibility for other drivers and pedestrians in a variety of daytime conditions including fog, rain, dusk and bright sunlight. To date, GM has sold more than 30 million vehicles in the United States and Canada with DRLs as standard equipment.

Using information from police and collision reports and traffic registration data from 17 states, the study shows estimated reductions in daytime multiple vehicle crashes ranging from 2.3 percent to nearly 12.5 percent, depending on the driving condition, type of DRL used and type of collision. The study analyzed conditions including daylight or dawn/dusk, daylight with good/poor visibility, daylight on highway/local streets, as well as multiple vehicle, pedestrian, child pedestrian, head-on and motorcycle crashes.

"These new findings provide additional support for this simple and inexpensive countermeasure," said Brian O'Neill, president, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "We would like to see every manufacturer make daytime running lights standard equipment."

The findings showed statistically significant reductions in several different crash types. The most dramatic reduction involved DRL-relevant vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes. Through 2001, it is estimated that DRLs have helped drivers avoid 772 pedestrian collisions, with children under the age of 12 accounting for 348 of these avoided collisions - up to a nearly 15-percent reduction. This is a 6-percent increase in the rate of reduction of pedestrian crashes since an initial DRL analysis was performed for GM in 2000 by Exponent Failure Analysis Associates.

"Daytime running lamps are a low-cost, effective way to reduce crashes," said Robert C. Lange, GM executive director, structure and safety integration. "Nearly all published reports indicate that DRLs reduce daytime multiple-vehicle and pedestrian collisions, potentially saving lives and preventing thousands of injuries."

There were 4,808 pedestrian traffic-related deaths in 2002, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Cumulatively, NHTSA estimates motor vehicle crashes cost society $230.6 billion a year, about $820 per person.

In December 2001, GM filed a petition with NHTSA asking it to adopt rulemaking that would require all automakers to install DRLs on new vehicles sold in the U.S. The petition covered passenger vehicles, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks and buses.

Daytime running lamps already are mandatory in Canada, and in several European countries.

(October 28, 2003)