Texas Transportation Institute Spotlights Need for Storefront Barrier Standards

Infographic: Texas Transportation Institute

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) added its voice today to the call for prevention of storefront crashes in its article, 'Parking Is a Full-Time Job', published online.

TTI Assistant Agency Director Dean Alberson — who led the team that developed the ASTM testing standard used by the U.S. State Department to help protect embassies and other facilities from vehicle crashes — noted that while storefront crashes are preventable, businesses should install vehicle barriers that meet an effectiveness standard. Otherwise, the barrier might not work as a business intended.

“We have the expertise and facilities needed to codify the new standard for storefront crashes,” Alberson said in the TTI article. “We’ll be conducting tests for manufacturers who want to prove their products meet the new ASTM standard we’re currently developing.”

TTI completed a longer paper on the issue this week — 'Data Analysis and Prevention of Vehicle-Into-Building Crashes: An examination into the frequency of vehicle-into-building crashes and a solution to protect people from such accidents' — co-authored by Alberson, TTI Graduate Assistant Researcher Felicia J. Desorcie, E.I.T., and Storefront Safety Council co-founder & Blockaides Inc. consultant Rob Reiter.

I'll post a link to that larger paper when it becomes available online.

NHTSA: Gas Pedal Accidents More Common Among Older Female Drivers

Photo via Google Images

A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) study's findings about pedal confusion generated a flurry of news stories April 13 2012 after the Associated Press reported that the study concluded 'older female drivers are more likely to have gas pedal accidents'.

"Accidents in which drivers mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake tend to involve older female drivers in parking lots, a new government study has found," reported AP's Joan Lowy.

"One of the study’s most striking and consistent findings was that nearly two-thirds of drivers who had such accidents were female. When looking at all crashes, the reverse is true — about 60 percent of drivers involved in crashes are male, the [NHTSA] study noted. Another finding: Gas pedal accidents tend to occur more frequently among drivers over age 76 and under age 20. ..."

Pedal confusion is frequently cited as a factor in news accounts of storefront crashes.

Here's the full NHTSA study report (PDF).

Can Parking Assist Systems Prevent Accidents?

A Feb. 24th New York Times article about how parking assist systems might aid senior drivers made me wonder: Does technology exist — if only on the drawing board, so far — that would counteract driver pedal confusion while parking?

I emailed that very question to Dr. Bryan Reimer at MIT, the researcher quoted in the NYT piece, and will see who else in the vehicle safety/research community I can pester.

Meanwhile, here's a link to the article: For Older Drivers, Help With Parking.

The Power of 'Why?'

Something Seth Godin wrote recently made me think. Actually, the thought was a question. The question was: 'Why?'

'Why?' looks like such a simple, straightforward question.The problem is, asking 'why?' easily leads to more questions—sometimes questions that are very difficult to answer.

Questioning too much all at once can paralyze our gray matter. And searching for answers can take way more time and patience than some of us can muster on a typical day. But the 'why' questions I'm posing right at the moment aren't about deep existential issues.

What Godin got me thinking about was, 'Why take approach A, versus B or C or X, to help prevent what I call storefront crashes? Why not try out multiple approaches? Why not collaborate with different folks to see what works—and then report on those efforts and their results?'

So, this is an invitation for people who have been involved in one or more of these crashes: Share your story. Share your insights. Share your own 'whys' and other questions.

Likewise, if you're a business owner, an architect, a real estate developer, a retail design consultant, a safety researcher—weigh in. (Want to stay anonymous before providing your perspective? Fine, just let me know up front.)

Attorneys and insurance adjusters and juries can wrestle with the word 'fault'. Personally, I'd just like to learn the answers to some 'why' questions—and then move on to 'how' people and property can be protected from out-of-control vehicles.

Pedal Design: Toyota's Perspective

The Wall Street Journal's article this week on Toyota's efforts to study potential changes in its vehicles' brake and gas pedals is both informative and frustrating ('Toyota Rethinks Pedal Design' - August 17, 2010).

That Toyota is delving into the ongoing mystery of why and how vehicles and their drivers unexpectedly accelerate and/or fail to stop is cause for optimism (albeit guarded—hopefully it's not just a rear-covering exercise).

The frustrating part: All the company's research has so far resulted, according to the WSJ article, in no obvious cause/solution insofar as its pedals go.

Here's the WSJ article: http://tinyurl.com/28khvrt