Outer car airbags can save the lifes of 350 cyclists in the EU annually. This is the result of a recent TNO study from the Netherlands, presented by the Dutch Fietsersbond  to Members of the European Parliament. The presentation was organized by Dutch MEP Corien Wortmann. She also took up one of the main demands put forward by Fietsersbond: the EURO NCAP, a European institution carrying out car crash tests, should extend its crash tests to cyclists as well.

MEP Corien Wortmann (second right behind) listening to the Fietsersbond presentation.

 
So far, these crash tests carried out by EURO NCAP are limited to pedestrians only. But cyclists are no pedestrians: the TNO study has found out that cyclists hit the car bonnet or windshield higher, leading to more severe head injuries compared to rather leg injuries of pedestrians. Exterior airbags as under development by Autoliv were shown to be very effective for cyclists, the study concludes, and could reduce fatalities by 75 %.

ECF and Fietsersbond asks EURO NCAP who after its own saying has “become a catalyst for encouraging significant safety improvements to new car design” and is being backed by the European Commission, to include cyclists into its crash tests in order to save the lifes of hundreds of cyclists annually across Europe! The Dutch Minister of Transport, Camiel Eurlings, already supports this demand.

To view  the simulations of pedestrians and cyclists hitting the car: www.fietsersbond.nl/urlsearchresults.asp?itemnumber=13431&viewtype=popup

To read the article in de VogelVrijeFietser, the magazine of the Dutch Fietsersbond (in Dutch):: http://media.fietsersbond.nl/VVF/VVF_3_2008_artikel_botsvriendelijkeautos.pdf

To read the entire TNO study: http://media.fietsersbond.nl/botsvriendelijkeautos/bicycle_safety_in_bicyle_to_car_accidents.pd f

Pour lire le rapport du TNO en francais: http://www.fietsberaad.nl/library/repository/bestanden/S%C3%A9curit%C3%A9%20des%20v%C3%A9los%20dans%20les%20accidents%20entre%20v%C3%A9los%20et%20voitures.pdf

To read the letter by Dutch minister Camiel Eurlings (in Dutch): http://www.verkeerenwaterstaat.nl/Images/20085747_tcm195-221966.pdf

To read the interview given by Corien Wortmann to VogelVrijeFietser: http://media.fietsersbond.nl/VVF/VVF-4-2008-cdakiezersfietsenook.pdf