30 Years Later, Ralph Nader Still Champions Automotive Safety

09/23/96

Reuters has reported that Ralph Nader has warned consumers that the federal government has scaled back its tough stance on car safety due to the dramatic drop in the rate of highway deaths over the past three decades. In a report titled ``Driving in Reverse,'' Nader charges regulators with failing to carry out expectations laid out by Congress, issuing watered-down standards, and resisting reforms.

"The dramatic reduction in deaths and injuries from highway crashes since 1966 has lulled the current administration into dangerous inactivity," said, Nader.

The report covers the 30 years that have transpired since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was created and Nader's book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," was published. Nader's book came out in 1965, helped to raise public awareness about safety issues and solidified Nader's position as a world renowned and globally respected consumer advocate.

Since the NHTSA was created, the government has set standards for everything from seat belts to speed limits. Nader's focus on safety also resulted in laws requiring automobile makers to notify car owners if their cars were found to harbor safety-related defects.

Although Nader gave the NHTSA under the Clinton administration good marks for extending passenger car standards to vans and light trucks and for improving child restraint safety rules, the report criticized standards intended to reduce head injuries as being too modest. The report also condemned NHTSA inaction on standards for vehicle roofs and on regulations intended to eliminate sharp edges and hood ornaments that account for a portion of pedestrian-related auto fatalities.

Nader's report says "the great strides made following the 1966 legislation have slowed and sometimes backtracked in the years since 1980." It also predicts motor vehicle fatalities will accelerate with the revocation of the 55 mile per hour national maximum speed limit.

A spokesman from NHTSA said that the agency was not in a position to comment on the Nader report because they had not yet seen it: "We haven't had a chance to see the report so we wouldn't be able to say anything about it."

Nader faulted the media for turning its back on automobile traffic safety issues, to concentrate on spectacular events like the recent airline crashes: "the same number of people killed in one of those crashes are killed on the highway almost every day and barely a peep is heard."

NHTSA data says the number of automobile-related fatalities in 1995 was about 16 per 100,000 people in 1995. The figure has held fairly steady in the last three years, but the long-term trend has been downward.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel