#Cars#CarSafety: "Some progress in the automotive industry is laudable. Cars are safer than ever and more efficient, too. But there are other changes we'd happily leave by the side of the road. That glossy "piano black" trim that's been overused the last few years, for starters. And the industry's overreliance on touchscreens for functions that used to be discrete controls. Well, the automotive safety organization European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) feels the same way about that last one, and it says the controls ought to change in 2026.
"The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes," said Matthew Avery, Euro NCAP's director of strategic development.
"New Euro NCAP tests due in 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions in an intuitive manner, limiting eyes-off-road time and therefore promoting safer driving," he said.
Now, Euro NCAP is not insisting on everything being its own button or switch. But the organization wants to see physical controls for turn signals, hazard lights, windshield wipers, the horn, and any SOS features like the European Union's eCall feature."
Street parking was already scarce in #Hoboken, New Jersey, when the death of an elderly pedestrian spurred city leaders to remove even more spaces in a bid to 👍end traffic fatalities.👍
For seven years now, the city of nearly 60,000 people has reported resounding success:
♦️Not a single automobile occupant, bicyclist or pedestrian has died in a traffic crash since January 2017♦️, elevating Hoboken as a national model for roadway safety.
Mayor Ravi Bhalla was a City Council member in 2015 when a van struck 89-year-old Agnes Accera as she crossed Washington Street in the bustling downtown business district. Bhalla didn’t know Accera but attended her wake and said her death inspired him to push for better safety.
“I felt it wasn’t acceptable,” Bhalla said. “Our seniors, who we owe the greatest duty of safety to, should be able to pass that street as safely as possible. For her to actually be killed was a trigger that we needed to take action.”
Bhalla became mayor in 2018 and the city fully committed to #Vision#Zero: 🔸a set of guidelines adopted by numerous cities, states and nations seeking to eliminate traffic deaths. 🔸
👉Proponents believe no accident is truly unavoidable and even want to do away with the word “accident” altogether when describing roadway fatalities. #Sweden originated the concept more than a quarter-century ago, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete #Buttigieg touted Hoboken in 2022 when announcing his department would follow Vision Zero guidelines.
Major U.S. cities including #NewYork, #Minneapolis, #SanFrancisco, #Baltimore and #Portland, Oregon, have integrated aspects of the program into their safety plans,
including at least some form of #daylighting, the term for the removal of parking spaces near intersections to improve visibility. #VisionZero#CarSafety https://apnews.com/article/hoboken-zero-traffic-deaths-daylighting-pedestrian-safety-007dec67706c1c09129da1436a3d9762
The US NHTSA has issued a recall on every Tesla vehicle sold in the US with the Autopilot feature installed. Calling the feature a safety hazard as it can be too easily misused due to inadequate driver monitoring.
The safety recall requires Tesla to perform a software update on all affected vehicles that will force drivers to monitor the vehicle more closely.
No word if a similar recall will be made in Canada.