In our line of work we keep track of data emanating from government agencies of interest including the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Some data jumps out at you and evidently did so for the authors of a Washington Post piece discussing today's blog, topic, the higher incidence of death and severe injury for women in major car accidents.
The bottom line is that auto designers have utilized the human male frame as the model for safety features in cars and trucks.This has resulted in some of those safety features working less well for women and in the NHTSA report on " Injury Vulnerability and Effectiveness of Occupant Protection Technologies for Older Occupants and Women" this is quantified as a 17% greater fatality risk for women.
Men and women are put together quite differently and it is not surprising that safety features designed solely using male frames, might work less well for women. The obvious solution is to utilize female body types and sizes for occupant protection technologies. This is tricky however because men and women don't have assigned seats .
Perhaps, the solution is to have safety technology that can be adjusted more readily for size, configuration and gender differences.
