DOCUMZNT RESUME ED 344 151 CG 024 144 TITLE Automotive Safety: Are We Doing Enough ToProtect America's Families? Hearing before the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families.House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress,First Session (December 4, 1991). INSTITUTION Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC.House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families. REPORT NO ISBN-0-16-037764-1 PUB DATE 92 NOTE 267p. AVAILABLE FROMU.S. Government Printing Office,Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington,DC 20402-9328. PUB TYPE Legal/Legislative/Regulatory MateriUs (090) EDRS PRICE MFU1/PC11 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Family Problems; Hearings; *Motor Vehicles; *Restraints (Vehicle Safety); *Safety;*Traffic Accidents; *Traffic Safety IDENTIFIERS *Congress 102nd ABSTRACT This document presents witness'testimonies and supplemental materials from the congressionalhearing called to examine the issue of automotive safety. Inher opening statement, Chairwoman Patricia Schroeder brieflyreviews statistics on traffic accidents and identifies the two majorissues to be addressed in the hearing: failure to act by the Nationa2Highway Traffic Safety Administrdtion (NHTSA) and the use of :xafetybelts. It is emphasized throughout the hearing that representativesfrom NHTSA refused to appear at the hearing; the absence ofrepresentatives from the trucking and automobile industries isalso noted. Witnescses providing testimonies include: (1) Byron Bloch,a consultant on auto safety design, who briefly reviews the historyof NHTSA and demonstrates the danger of "windowshade" seat belts (seatbelts with too much slack in the shoulder belts), automaticshoulder belts, and truck underride; (2) Joan Claybrook, thepresident of Public Citizen; whodescribes safety systems which she feelsshould be standard equipment in all vehicles; (3) Benjamin Kelley, thepresident of the Institute for Injury Reduction; who addresses theissue of "windowshade" seat belts; and (4) Brian O'Neill, thepresident of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, whoreviews the history of manual and nomanual automatic restraints andthe safeguards in place to prevent truck underride. Letters, preparedstatements, and supplemental materials are included from RepresentativeSchroeder, the witnesses, the American Trucking Association,Inc., and Jerry Ralph Curry, from the National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration. (:.B) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are thebest that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** AUTOMOTIVE SAFETY: ARE WE DOING ENOUGH TO PROTECT AMERICA'S FAMES? 40 HEARING it! BEFORE THE CID SELECT COMMITTEE ON A CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES ci4 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SECOND CONGRESS FIRST SESSION HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, DECEMBER 4, 1991 Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Children. Youth, and Families U.S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION )ers e E ebonal Reenstcend trrIpto-ernent EDucATIONAt SOLIRCES INFORMATION CE NYE R tE RIO ctocument has been tebtoClut ect es tt(8vttti hen, the POMO!,or otofinaalion 0,t9mettng .1 r Minot Ci8t.Qt S ba..e been r.ade Ic, ..n.vre fs- ,eptotlucittat Wally oNiT IDE.affea L 5+. 5.: . PomIs of or tnInn.ons slated .n IInstinc CV mem co not noc esSIOn,epte.Spnl ()Mt poslo,, 0, pobuy Cs) U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE fif -937 WASHINGTON : 1992 he ..afe hy the I ;.S, f. fovernment Netting Of Ike Sepureffeelket of Docufeent. Mad Stop: SSOP. Wachington. X- 20402-R32s ISBN 0-16-037764-1 SELECT COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN.YOUTH, AND FAMILIES PATRICIA SCHROEDER, Colorado,Chairwoman GEORGE MILLER, California FRANK R. WOLF. Virginia WILLIAM LEHMAN, Florida CLYDE C. HOLLOWAY. Louisiana MATTHEW F. McHUGH. New York CURT WELDON. Pennsylvania TED WEISS. New York LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas BERYL ANTHONY. Jet., Arkansas JAMES T. WALSH. New York BARBARA BOXER, California RONALD K. MACHTLEY, Rhode Island SANDER M. LEVIN, Michigan BOB McEWEN. Ohio J. ROY ROWLAND. Georgia MICHAEL BILIRAKIS. Florida GERRY SIKORSKI, Minnesota sayrr L. KLUG, Wisconsin ALAN WHEAT, Missouri RICHARD JOHN SANTORUM, Pennsylvania MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California DAVE CAMP, Michigan LANE EVANS. Illinois FRAN.{ D. RIGGS. California RICHARn J. DURBIN, Illinois BILL BAP.;tETT. Nebraska DAVID E SKAGGS, Colorado Vacancy BILL SARPALIUS, Texas TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota BARBARA-ROSE COLLINS, Michigan JOAN KELLY HORN. Missouri JIM BACCHUS. Florida DOUGLAS "PETE" PETERSON, Florida ROBERT el -BUD- CRAMER,JR , Alabama COMMITTEE STAFF KARABELLE PI721OATI, Staff Thrector Jul. KAGAN, Deputy Staff Director DANtELLE MALIsON, Minority StaffDirertor CARAIL M STA:RPM Minority DeputyStaff Dirn-tor CONTENTS Page Hearing held in Washington, DC. December4, 1991 Statement of; 1 Bloch, Byron, consultant, auto safety design,Potomac. MD 15 Claybrook, Joan, president, Public Citizen, Washington,DC 4 Kelley, Ben, president, Institute for InjuryReduction, Upper Marlboro, MD 50 O'Neill, Brian, president, InsuranceInstitute for Highway Safety, Arling- ton, VA 146 Prepared statements, letters, supplementalmaterials, et cetera: American Trucking Associations, Inc., preparedstatement of 2Z7 Bloch, Byron, consultant in auto safety design,Potomac, MD: Prepared statement of 'a Response from Byron Bloch to questions posedby Congressman Clyde C. Holloway 165 Claybrook, Joan, president, Public Citizen,Washington, DC: Prepared statement of 8 Response to questions posed by Clyde C.Holloway 163 CurrY.1!errY 'IWO, U.S. Department of Transportation,National High- way Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, DC: Letter to Hon. Patricia Schroeder, datedJanuary 15, 1992, regarding response to questions posed by Congressman Clyde C. Holloway. 217 Letter to Hon. Patricia Schmeder, datedDecember 30, 1991, concern- ing truck underride devices 208 Letter to Hon. Patricia Schroeder, datedDecember 31, 1991 186 Response to questions posed by ChairwomanPatricia Schroeder 187 Response to questions poeed by ChairwomanPatricia Schroeder, con- cerning truck underside devices 209 Response to questions posed by CongressmanClyde C. Holloway Kelley, Benjamin. president, Institute 218 boro. MD: for Injury Reduction. Upper Marl- Partial bibliography of BenjaminKelley 172 Prepared statement of 53 Response to questions posed byCongressman Clyde C. Holloway 168 Summary biography of Benjamin Kelley 170 O'Neill, Brian, Insurance Institute forHighway Safety. Arlington, VA, prepared statement of 149 Schroeder, Hon. Patricia,a Representative in Congress from the State of Colorado, and chairwoman, Select Committee Families: on Children, Youth, and Letter to Benjamin Kelle, dated December 18, 1991, requesting an- swers to questions posed by Congressman CI deC. Holloway 166 Letter to Byron Bloc, dated December 18, 1991. requesting answers to questions posed by Congressman ClydeC. Holloway 164 Letter to Hon. Jerry R. Curry.administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, datedDecember 10, 1991, concern- ing the issue of truck underrideprotection 206 Letter to Hon. Jerry R. Curry,dated December 11, 1991, requesting answers to questions posed by Congresswoman PatriciaSchroeder 182 Letter to Hon. Jerry R. Curry, datedDecember 1E, 1991, requesting answers to questions posed by Congressman Clyde C.Holloway 215 Letter to Joan Claybrook, datedDecember 18, 1991, requestingan- swers to questions posed by Congressman Clyde C.Holloway 161 Opening statement of 2 MP 4 AUTOMOTIVE SAFETY: ARE WE DOING ENOUGH TO PROTECT AMERICA'S FAMILIES? WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1991. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SELECT COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES, Washington, DC The select committee met, punuant to call, at 10 a.m., in room 2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Patricia Schroeder (chairwoman of the select committee) presiding. Members present: Representatives Schroeder, Johnson, Peterson and Martinez. Staff present: Karabelle Pizzigati, staff director; Jill Kagan, deputy staff director; Tim Morrison, chief investigator; Mickey Uelses, investigator; Danielle Madison, minority staff director; Carol Statute, minority deputy staff director; and Joan Godley, committee clerk. Chairwoman SCHROEDER. I would like to call the hearing to order and thank you all for being here. The Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families feels very strongly that we should be looking at all issues that affect America's families since automotive accidents are the number one killer of all Americans under age 44. We need to do everything we can to reduce the number of deaths on our roadways. The select committee has started its first in a series of investiga- tive hearings to determine if enough is being done to protect the American family. There are some issues that we will be bringing into focus today that we think are important. As I mentioned, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death and injuries for Americans up to age 44. Every week the number of children killed in motor vehicle accidents would fill three large school buses, and motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of the crippling of children in the United States. We don't bring this up to shock people, but to draw attention to a problem that is made all the more tragic because much of this death is preventable. There are two things that we want to be talking about this morn- ing. First, in 1966 the Federal Government created what is now known as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, in an effort to try to