RUCKERSVILLE, Va. — Crashes involving pedestrians are up in Virginia and North Carolina.
While there are a number of factor's that go into why. So, I wanted to know what role the vehicle and auto makers play.
I traveled to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Virginia to see how the research is focusing on pedestrian-related safety.
I was given the opportunity to drive on a closed track where researchers test gas-powered and electric vehicles.
Watch: Crash test dummies take the hits so (hopefully) you don't have to
During this specific test we were looking at how well crash avoidance features work on an electric Kia Soul.
I drove down the runway around 20-25mph and approached a crash test dummy my path.
As I drove closer, I intentionally did not step on the brake.
David Aylor, vice president of Active Safety, explains what happened next, “[the vehicle] beeped at [you], there was a flashing light and then it automatically applied the brakes."
Aylor says front crash prevention systems, like the one installed on the electric Kia Soul, are on most new vehicles.
Problem Solvers
This Virginia research facility is helping to shape safety in the auto industry
He says the folks at IIHS test how well they respond in simulated scenarios and then the vehicle is given a safety rating. That safety rating is then given to the auto manufacturers and posted online for the public to see.
"Our hope is that by evaluating these systems we'll encourage manufacturers to put them on cars, encourage consumers to buy them, so we can help reduce real-world pedestrian crashes,” Aylor says.
Though significant changes take time.
“The average age for a vehicle is about 12 years. So even if tomorrow every system was standard with a good pedestrian system or a good vehicle-to-vehicle system it's still going to take 12 or more years before we start seeing those vehicles predominantly in the fleet,” he says.
According to the Virginia DMV, in 2022 there were 171 pedestrian fatalities. In North Carolina, which has about two million more people, the Department of Transportation reports 269 pedestrians were killed during that same year.
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IIHS says speeding and poorly designed infrastructure are part of the problem.
“We also see pedestrians crossing at non-intersections. We see bigger vehicles with higher horsepower causing problems, so it's really important as we see those pedestrian fatalities increase to promote technologies like this to hopefully help reduce real-world pedestrian fatalities,” Aylor says.
According to IIHS,
“Solutions include building median islands and adjusting traffic signals to create an exclusive pedestrian or bicyclist phase or to give them a head start before vehicles get a green light. Lowering vehicle speeds can also reduce injury severity for pedestrians and bicyclists involved in crashes.”
When IIHS is developing different crash avoidance tests, they look at data across the country to see where pedestrian accidents are happening.
They try to mimic those environments and that's how they come up with the scenarios.
That information is then given to auto manufacturers and published online.
