New NHTSA Chief Says Auto Safety Starts with the Family

Washington DC June 30, 2006; The AIADA newsletter reported that NHTSA's new Chief Nicole Nason -- the mother of two young daughters in a busy commuter household -- wants auto safety to start with the family: "This is a family issue and vehicle safety needs to be the priority," reports The Associated Press.

Nason, a former aide to Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, began serving as administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in May.

About 43,000 people are killed and 2.7 million people injured on U.S. roads, annually. Nason says she wants parents to feel empowered to set strict rules for driving and prioritize safety, especially "when their children are more likely to die in a motor vehicle crash than anything else."

Since NHTSA promotes traffic safety, sets performance standards for vehicles, investigates safety defects, and researches vehicle safety, automakers and safety advocates pay close attention to its decisions. Nason said the agency will announce a ruling this summer, which will mandate electronic stability control, or ESC in vehicles. ESC is the anti-rollover technology that automatically applies brakes to individual wheels when a car veers off course. About 40 percent of 2006 passenger cars already have the technology as standard equipment.

A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety predicted that ESC could prevent 10,000 vehicles crashes a year in the U.S. In order to combat drunk driving, Nason said she also supports "ignition interlock" systems on vehicles, which would include a breathalyzer wired into a vehicle's ignition system requiring drivers to pass the test to start the car.