Bipartisan legislation recently introduced in the U.S. Senate would improve passenger vehicle safety by requiring the most advanced testing devices available.
The She Develops Regulations In Vehicle Equality and Safety Act would enhance passenger vehicle safety by updating crashworthiness testing procedures under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) New Car Assessment Program.
U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) introduced the bill with U.S. Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).
“Drive US Forward is deeply grateful to Senators Fischer, Duckworth, Blackburn, and Murray for their leadership in introducing the She DRIVES Act. This bipartisan bill is a critical step for ending fatal gender discrimination in car safety testing – an error that costs hundreds of lives every year. We fully support this effort, and we look forward to working collaboratively to advance these priorities,” said Alison Collard de Beaufort of Drive US Forward.
Among the advanced testing devices the bill requires are a female crash test dummy and a more technological advanced male dummy. The bill also would require crashworthiness tests for female occupants in both front and rear seating positions, and would establish injury criteria based on real-world data.
Current U.S. crash testing standards use only a crash test dummy representing a typical adult male. According to NHTSA data, 1,300 women die annually who would have lived had female death and injury rates been comparable to that of males.
More than a year ago, a Government Accountability Office report outlined the deficiencies in crash testing program
The NHTSA acknowledges that a family of crash test dummies is needed for accurate crash tests, but it has missed multiple deadlines for dummy deployment. There also are no dummies or tests that represent the elderly and other vulnerable groups.