INSUR.ANGINSTITUTE

FOR.HIGHWAYWITY

Vol. 26. No. I Janudry26.1991

The Hybrid III dummies in Ihe loreground and a/ reur au/perform/lie Hybrid fI (center). Hybrid fIIp~uldes 3f measurts of impact severily in various body areas. compared with eight for its predecessor

Insulin-Treated Commercial DriversWould Put Themselves and Others at Risk

Contrary to research evidence, theFederal Highway Administration (FH%\)proposes to drop its prohibition againstpermitting insulin-treated persons to oper­ate commercial vehicles because of Msul>­stantial advances~ in the treatment andmanagement of the disease.

Medical specialists can make ~reliahle

case-by-case assessments for an insulin­using individual's physical ability to safelyoperate a commercial motor vehicle," theFHWA says in its proposed rule change.

"The Insurance Institute for HighwaySafety Hnds no basis in fact for these as­sertions and continues to oppose theFHWA proposal: says Allan F. Williams,vice president 01 research. ~The FHWAproposal relies more on wishful thinking

than the existing scientific evidence."~The research evidence flatly contra­

dicts FHWA's contention that persons withinsulin·treated diabetes can be I>ermitted10 operate commercial trucks without in­creasing the risk of truck crashes. TheFHWA implicitly recognizes that fact byproposing that persons with insulin-treat­ed diabetes continue to be prohibitedfrom driving vehicles transporting passen­gers or hazardous substances."

FHWA also has ignored its own contrac­tors risk assessment, WilJjams points out.The study by ASW Associates estimatesthere will be about 1,000 additional crash­es each year if persons with insulin-treat-

(Colll'd on Page 2)

Institute SupportsGMts Petition ToRequire Hybrid m

General Motors says auto manulaClur·ers should be required to us!;' the company·developed Hybrid JlJ dummy in compliancetests of vehicles equipped with automaticseat belts or air bags. and the Insurance In·stitute for Highway S.uety agrees.

In a letter to the National Highway Traf·fie Safety Administration (NHTSA) in sup.pori of the GM petition. Brian O·~eiIJ. Insti·tute president, says Ihe Hybrid III dummy"has superior biofidelity and is more repre­sentative of human resl>onses than the Hy·brid II test dummy. The enhanced capabilityfor additional measurements provided bythe Hybrid III should increase our under­standing of tolerance to injury for differentbody regions and result in better vehicle de­signs that will mitigate injuries:

In 1988 NHTSA suspended the deadlinefor requiring the more advanced dummyto be used in compliance testing underFederal Motor Vehicle Safety Stalldard(FMVSS) 208. Since 1986 NHTSA has per­mltted automakers 10 use either theHybrid II. originally developed by GM andlater specified in detail by NHTSA as atestdevice for air bags and lap and shoulderbelt testing, or the Hybrid Ill, which wasdeveloped in 1983. Currently only GM,Chrysler, and Volvo conduct compliancetests using the Hybrid III, although GM of­ficials say most of the major companieshave acquired at least one 01 the 40 dum­mies sold lor product development.

(Conld on Page 7)

l-IIHS "'11m, Reptlrl \r 1(, \0 I Junuur\' ;}I; /.(j(1/

Insulin-Treated DriversWould Increase Risk

(Om(d from Page I)ed diabetes are permitted to operateheary ve1icles,

~ 'ot flnly will drivers \\ lth in~ulin-treat­

1--d dIabetes put themselves at greater risk,)1 death or Injury [rom a truck crash.says Williams, they 14ill imp<'ril the safetyof other persons on highways. \10re than90 percellt of the persons dying in multi­vehicle crashl's of tractor trailers are theoccupants 01 other vehicles rather thanthe truck dmt'rs ..

Six out of eight controllrd studies ontilt" role 01 diabdes In relation to motorvehle e crash.'s demonstrate that perso 1Swith di,1heles me-llitus havl' 20 to 11M) per­umt more crashes than persons who donot. One probahle reason for the elevatedcrash risk, say medical specialists. is thelJ(currenCf of insulin-induced hypo­glycemia, Hypoglycemia. or low bloodsugar. may be caused by stress. too muchinsulin. or a missed meal Reactions caninclude mental sluggishness, impairedjudgment. poor coordination, and belli­cose beharior, SererI' h)poglycemia cannccur suddenly. resulting in loss of con­sciousness and coma.

Eleven studies reported lhat severe hy­poglycemiC t'pisodes occurred annually inlto 34 percent of the insuhn-treated dia­~etic populations studied, The frequencywas aifected by how broadly or narrowlythe term ~S{\'Ne hypoglycemia~ was de­fined by the researchers, Three of thesestudies used a broad definition, which in­cluded hypoglycemic episodes that re­quired the assistance of another person.01 this group. severe hypoglycemicepIsodes occurred annually in 26 to 29 per­cent olth.' dlanetlc populations studied.

lnder fhe FlfW-\ proposal. persons withmsulin-trtated di,tbetes would ha\e to beevaluated by an endocrinologist or a physi­cian in (onsultation with an endocrinolo­gIst and cerlifit'd llS fit to drive commercialvehides and reexamined every six months.

Such drivers \\ould be restricted tojobs that would allow them 10 return tothe same location every day. They alsowould be prohibited from driving vehicleswith more than 15 passengers or trans­porting hazardous materials. They wouldbe required to use a portable blood glu­cose test machine an hour bffore dri\in~.

then about ('very four hours while drivin~,

dnd the results \\ould have to be logged.Drh'ers also \~ould be required 10 carrysyringes or a pump for administering lheinsulin and rapidly absorbable glucose.

Even wjth these precautions, availabledata show that "compliance with the bloodmonitoring requirements proposed by theFH\\.-\ ma~ increase the crash risk,\\11 lams states Sdl-monilonll~ 01 glucos,le\els is done to try to achiae glocose con­centrations within normal range~ in orderto delect and treat hypo- and hyper­gl}cemia. The first-year results for those inthe Diabetes Control and Complications Tri­al experimental group. who .... ere re<luiredto self-monitor blood glucose at least fourtimes daily and adjust their insulin dosesaccordingly. shOVted a 26 percent annual in­cidence of st'vt're hypoglycemia. This riskI,\as three times higher than for those in thestandard treatment group.

Furlhermore reliance on sell·reportedblood glucose Jogs is questionable. Studiesin 1984 and 1987 sho.....ed that more thanone-half of the subjects reported resultsthat varied from the actual \'alues. They al­so found that patients repurted they hadtested themselves \\ hen they had not

In other comments to Ihe docket. theAmelican Trucking Associations (ATA) says~the debilitating effects of diabetes requiringinsulin, coupled with the risk of loss of con­sciousness inherent in the taking of insulin,combine to create an unacceptable risk inmolor carrier operations,~ They also warnthe rule could expose companies and medi­cal examiners to potenlialliabilit\' claims.The- Center lor Auto Safely also opposes theFHW-\ proposal. saying it "will result in sub­stantial increases in acddenls

(Conld on Page 5)

I~I Dodge Grund Cartlwn

VANTAGE, CHRYSLERChrysler Corporation is now equipping

the 1991 Dodge Caravan and Plymouth":lyager minivans with optional driver airbags. The larger Grand Caravan, GrandVoyager, and Chrysler Town & Countrymodels are also being equipped with op­tional driver air bags.

During the 1991 model year, however,the van instrument panels will not incor­porate a knee bolster, which would pre­vent unbelled occupants from submarin­ing in a frontal crash. The dash will be re­designed for the 1992 model year to incor­porate knee bolsters, says Jason Vines, aChrysler representative.

A$500 rebate will be given to van buy­ers who, during February and March, pur­chase models without air bags. There willbe no extra charge lor the air bags, saysRobert A. Lutz, Chrysler president.

The company also plans to add a driv­er air bag to a new Jeep model, codenamed ZJ, to be launched in January 19'J2,and will begin installing passenger side airbags in 19'J3 models. By 19'J5, says Lutz,air bags for drivers and passengers will bein more than 99 percent of the passengercars built by Chrysler.

Separately, Ford Motor Co. will installdriver-side air bags as standard equip­ment on the 1992 model Aerostar minivanand full-size E-l50 and E-250 Econolillevans, says Haroid A. Poling, chairman andchiel executive officer.

IfIISSta/U~ Report. lhl. 26, No, I, January 2fi, 1991-.1

Majority of TruckersSteer OearOfAgency'sRequired Crash Reports

Acomparison of the Federal HighwayAdministration's (FHWA) truck crash re­ports with reports from an independentstudy indicates that only 39 percent of thetruckers involved obeyed the law by filingreports with the federal agency.

In a report prepared as part of anFHWA-spollsored study of ils Office 01 Mo­tor Carriers (O~lC) accident reporting sys­tem. a Callow Associates researcher com­pared information collected on truckcrashes that occurred on Interstate high­ways in Washington from r.,'larch 1984through July 1986 with OMC crash re­ports. The independent crash data wasderived from a study conducted by the in­surance Institute for High\',.'ay Salety. (SeeStatus Report, V,)1. 22, :\0. I, Jan. 24. 1987.)

Out of 4i2 crashes that met the report­ing criteria set by GMC. only 185 were re­ported to the federal government. Com­mon carriers were more likely to lite therequired reports (46 percent) com!>aredwith contract (31 percent) and private (24percent) carriers who carry primarily

their own products. Larger fleets consist­ing of more than 50 trucks were more like­ly to comply with the regulation.

The truck crash reports seldom men­tion safety defects, Ihe report says. "Ofthe 47 trucks identified with out-of-servicedefects. only three reported having defec­tive equipment to O~lC The issue is im­portant. the report notes. because GMC re­ports previously have indicated that only 5percent 01 trucks in crashes have defec­tive safety equipment. Random roadsideinspections. however. indicate that de­fects are far more pervasive than the own­ers' reports show.

Most of the crashed trucks' defects in­volved brakes or steering. Out of the 47trucks with safety problems severeenough to require them 10 be placed outof service. 31 had brake adjustment de­fects. and five had steering defects.

The report notes thaI while defects maynot be the most critical crash factors. il isdifficult to imagine a crash in which brak­ing and steering would not be relevant.

~Coml>arison of OMC Accident DataWith Independent Data from WashingtonState.~ was prepared by Howard S. Stein ofCallow Associates. Inc., 12007 Sunrise Val·ley Drive, Suite 160. Reston. Va, 22091.

Nissan 300ZX HasHighest InsuranceTheft Losses

Among the 88 most popular 1990 mod­el cars, Nissan's 300ZX has by far the high­est insurance losses for theft, reports theHighway Loss Data Institute.

Theft claims are filed for this car modelabout twice as often as the average for all1990 cars. And the average paid theltclaim for the 300ZX is more than 810,000compared wilh about 52,400 for all cars.Overall insurance theft losses for the3002X are nearly nine times as high as lheaverage lor all cars.

Other 1990 cars with high theft lossesinclude Ford's Mustang. Volkswagen's 4­door Jetta. and the Cadillac Brougham.But overall theft losses for these cars areonly about hall that 01 the 300ZX.

The 1990 car with the highest frequen­cy of theft claims-almost eight times theaverage frequency for all cars-is the Jet­ta. But the average payment per theftclaim for this car is relatively low, indicat­ing that many claims are filed for stolencomponents. such as radios. rather thanfor total loss of the car.

1-I1H.\StlJlU.( Report 10126.\"0 J. Januar}' :.If; /.991

Added imting For Car WIndows? Tests Spotligbt HazardsT'le \ational Highway Traffic Safety

~dministration .\HTSA) should reject apetition to allow the application of a tint­ed film to side and rear windows of pas­senger cars that could reduce light trans­mittance 10 as lillie as 25 percent, says theInsurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The agency is considering changingthe glazing standard. Federal ~Iotor \'ehi·cle ~afety Standard 205. which now reoquirt'S side and rear v.indo..... glazing to

permit at least iO percent of availablelight to enter.

Gila River Products Inc., ~1adico Inc.,\1artin Processing, Inc., and 3.\1 EnergyControl Products asked NHTSA to allowthem to apply 35 percent minimum lumi·nous transmittance film on side and rearwindows. [f the film were applied to win·dows that were already tinted. the lighttransmittance could be cui to 25 percent.\HTSA says.

laboratory tests sponsored by the In­slilule demonstrate that the ability to seecommon roadway objects ~located 10 therear 01 automobiles ... during dusk andnighttime conditions declines at anytransmittance level below 70 percent. Thisreduction in the ability to see is particu­larly great lor older drivers: says BrianO'Neill. president of the Institute in com­ments on the petition.

Agroup of 18 Ii(ensed drivers ranging

IIHS Status Report, Vol. 26. No. I. January 26. 199/-j

in age from 18 through 90 years were indi­vidually seated in a simulated passengercar and asked to look for hazards beforebacking up. Images of a vehicle. a bicy­clist. a small child. a pedestrian. and de­bris were projected so that they could beviewed through the rear and rear side win­dows. using two levels of luminous con­trastthat approximated dimly lit and mod­erately lit conditions.

"In general. there were increasinglymore failures to detect the objects as therear window transmittance level de­creased below 70 percent.~ O'Neill reports."It was also found that error rates werestrnngly influenced by the driver's age. Ihe

"It was also found thai errorrotes were strongly influencedby the driver's age.... "

contrast of the object against its back­ground. and the nature of the target itself.M

Performance varied among the targets.All the drivers were able to see the pro­jected image of a car regardless of thelighting level, but the ability to distinguishother objects generally decreased withmore tinting. with older drivers, and withlower contrast levels. These three factorsalso interacted to lower the drivers' abili­ty to detect objects. The combined effectwas most evident in detecting the seatedchild and debris.

"The results of this research provideevidence that the safety of backing maneu­vers during dusk and nighttime conditionsare substantially compromised for alldrivers looking through windows withIransmittance levels below 50 percent:O'Neill says. "In addition, there is evidencethat drivers older than age SS probably ex­perience a significant increase in the riskof nol seeing common roadway objects atall window transmillance levels below the70 percent standard now in effect.

M

Alcohol and CurvesFactors in Motorists'Deaths by Drowning

Very lew llcople drown in their cars.but in some parts of the United States.such as Florida and Louisiana where in­land waterways are prevalent. run-off-the­road crashes resulting in drownings arenot uncommon.

Each year about 350 people die in suchincidents, epidemiologists from the Uni­versity of California at Davis report in astudy to learn more about the causes ofsuch deaths and whether other injurieswere factors.

In Sacramento County, site of a riverdelta, the researchers say drownings frommotor vehicle immersions are more com­mon than drownings from boating mishaps.Roads are built on levees about 30 feetabove water and roads often border irriga­tion canals. These two-lane roads usuallyhave narrow shoulders and curves are gen­erally unbanked. with lew guard rails.

They analyzed coroner's records from1974 through 1985 to locate ii drowningdeaths associated with motor vehiclecrashes. They also inventoried the crashsites to check lor warning signs and guardrails. The researchers learned that drown­ing was involved in all but one death. Thecoroner's records indicate that one per­son may have died from head injuriesrather than drowning. but the restdrowned, some with additional injuriescontributing to their deaths.

"Alcohol was a major contributing lac­lor,~ they report. Blood samples showthree-fourths 01 the drivers had positiveblood alcohol concentrations.

~lt is likely that alcohol use contributesto these deaths in two ways.~ the re­searchers note, because it increases thechances of straying off the road into thewater and impairs the ability to escape asinking vehicle.

Csing a control method in which eachcrash site was compared with a point one

mile distant on the same road, the re­searchers also demonstrated that roadwaycurvature was an important factor in thecrashes. "Road curvatures of 20 degrees orgreater were far more common at crashsites than at comparison sites," they report.

Out of the 34 cases with complete po­lice reports. the researchers discoveredonly two had guard rails at the site. "Plac­ing guard rails along waterside roadwayswould substantially decrease the inci­dence of immersions," they conclude. Not­ing that it would cost about $76.560 for amile of guard rail. the researchers say thehighway department could cut the inci­dence of vehicle immersions by almostone-half if they installed guard rails alongcurves of 20 degrees or greater.

"Death Resulting from Motor VehicleImmersions: The Nature of the Injuries.Personal, and Environmental ContributingFactors, and Potential Interventions," byGaren J. Wintemute. Jess F. Kraus, Stephenp. Teret. and ]I,-lona A. Wright. appeared inthe September 1990 issue of the AmericanJuurnal ofPublic Health.

lnsulin·Treated DriversWould Increase Risk

(Conl'd from foge 2)Groups supporting the FHWA proposal

include the International Brotherhood ofTeamsters. Chauffeurs, Warehousemen.and Helpers of America. the American As·sociation of Diabetes Educators. and theAmerican Diabetes Association.

The American Medical Associationsays it does not oppose the proposal if theregulations are "painstakingly applied."however the group adds. ·our primaryconcern is the ability of the federal gov·ernment to monitor adequately the appli·cation of these requirements....

·Concerns over safety hazards posed bydiabetic drivers are real, and potential diffi­culties with allowing insulin-dependentdrivers to operate commercial motor vehi­cles must not be allowed 10 materialize andadd to existing highway safety problems.~

6-IIHS Slatus Report. ~j)1 16, So. 1. January 16, J991

Heavy Drinkers FareNo Better in DrinkingAnd Driving Tests

\umE.'rou5 studies have demonstratedalcohol's detnmental effect upon drivingperformance. But conventional wisdomholds that heavy drinkers have more tol.erance and are more capable 01 driving al·ler dnnking than pE."Ople who imbibe infre­quent ).

Conventional .... isdom appears to be....Tong.

The L"niversit)· of Adelaide's road acci­dent research umt of the 'aUonal Healthand ~ledlcal Rest arch Council in Australiarecently measured the nighllime drivingeffects of blood alcohol concentrations(SAC) of zero. n.H5 percent. and 0.10 per­cent upon ~4 men aged 19 to 55 years,They found heavy drinkers just as likely tomake mIstakes as light drinkers duringseven driving and recognition tests.

The n:seart:htrs report. ~these experi­ments did not supporlthe hYl>othesis thatthe results for light drinkers would differfrom those for heavy drinkers at the SAClevels used in this experiment."

In addition the rt'Sl'archers found "per·formance deteriorating rapidly with in·creasing BAC level."

If habitual drinkers' driving abilitiesare less affected. th(' researchers pointout, larger sample sizes will be needed fordetetlion of that tolerance. "It is also pos·sible that althouqh an habituation effectis dislinguishable for relatively simpletasks. it is diminished wilh more complextasks such as those reqUired 01 drivers inthis study

For copIes 01 "The £fftXt of Blood ,-\lCi?hoI Concentration on Light and HeavyDrlOkHs In a Realistic \Ight Driving Situa­tIon. by H. laurell. AJ. \1cLean. and C\,t\loeden write \H\1RC Road ;\ccident Re­search Lnit. LOl\erslty 01 Adelaide. GPOR)x .f!~. \delaide Australia ~1.

Door latch is rompleh>f:, wJ 1mit'd !fllm rar hoJ\

PE1TI10N DENIEDThe National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration (NIITSA) has turned downan Insurance Institute lor Highway Safetypetition to strengthen door latch assem­blies and extend the standard to hatch­backs and other rear doors.

The Institute had urged NHTSA tomake the change because a study 01 tow·away crashes showed that one crash in 10resulted in adoor latch or hinge failure.

Barry Felrice, associate administratorlor rulemaking, said in a Federal Registernotice that the agency already is workingon improvements for side door latchesand locks in aseparate rulemaking.

As for extending the present regula­tion, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Stan·dard (FMVSS) 206, to hatchbacks, tail­gates, and other back doors, Felrice alsosaid no, saying that although rear doorsopen far more frequently than side doors,few people are ejected through rear door·ways, because in the majority 01 crashes.only adriver is present.

The agency asked nine manufacturers,Chrysler. Ford, General Motors, Honda.Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, andVolvo whether their back door latch andlock systems meet the current require·ments 01 FMVSS 206. They all said no and,furthermore, none supported an exten·sian 01 the standard to rear doors.

"In general,~ says Felrice, Kthe manu·facturers indicated that proper use of safe­ty belts is the most effective methexi forejection reduction.-

Employers Should BeRequired to EstablishSeat Belt Policies

An Occupational Safety and Health Ad­ministration (OSHA) proposal to requireemployers to establish seat belt use andmotorcycle helmet use policies lor .....ork·ers is ..... idely supported by employers.unions. and other interested groups.

The Insurance Institute for HighwaySalety strongly endorsed the proposal.and urged OSHA to require bicyclists to.....ear protective head gear. as .....ell. "From19~n to 1989. the proportion 01 bicyclistfatalities accounted for by bikers over theage of21 years has gro\HI from 31 percentto 43 percenl.~ says Allan F. Williams. vicepresident 01 Institute research. Bicyclistmessenger senices. he points out. havetaken root in urban areas. where 63 per­cent of bicyclist deaths occurred In 19k9.-There is no reason to exclude this smallbUI growing work force from the protec­tion of the current rulemaking procedure."

Williams. ho.....ever. opposed a mandatefor driver and motorcycle educational pro.gram requirements. saying. "there is noempirical evidence to support the eUec·tiveness of such training programs andmuch evidence indicating that they haveno effect on crash likelihood."

Instead Williams urged OSHA to re­quire employers to establish policies forbelt and helmet use on the job and issueclear prohibitions against alcohol anddrug use. along with credible plans tomonitor and enforce these requirements.

..\ number 01 large companies. such asPaCific Bell and DuPont. already have beltuse policies and alcohol and drug a.....are­ness programs. but they question the effi­cacy of adding more paperwork. The \a­tional Association of \tanufacturers says itsupports a requirement for belt and hel­met use. but a mandatory inspection re­qUirement in the proposed regulationshould be based upon a favorable cost·benefit anal)sis.

IlHS Slatus Report, \:0/.26. No, /, January 26. J,9,9J-i

Vehicle Damage Varies; Detroit Models Fare BetterInsurance losses lor vehicle damage

vary widely among 1990 car models, reportsthe Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDD.

In general the models with the best re­sults are large and midsize vehicles pro­duced in Ihe United Stales, Their resultsare at least 40 percent lower than Ihe av­erage result lor all vehicles.

Most of the vehicles with the worst re­sults are small two-door cars or sportscars .\1any are imported. Their results areat least 50 percent worse than the averagefor all vehicles.

The 1990 car with the worst overall in·surance collision loss result is Nissan's300ZX, asmall sports car. The car with thehighest average loss payment per insur­ance claim is the Chevrolet Corvette witha result more than twice Ihe overall aver­age 0112.229.

HLDI is a research organization thatcollects and analyzes insurance coverageand claims information. It is closely asso­ciated with the Insurance Institute forHighway Safety.

Institute SupportsGM's Petition ToRequire Hybrid III

(Cont'd from Page I)The Hybrid III is capable of more human­

like responses in crash tests compared withthe Hybrid n, and is equipped to measure 31responses to crash test forces over the en­tire body, The Hybrid II measures only eight.

The Hybrid JII is capable of measuringchest compression in addition to decelera­tion during acrash. The Hybrid n, however,can measure only chest deceleration,

Manufacturers who use the more so­phisticated Hybrid III must certify that theydo not exceed the 3-inch chest deflectionlimit in addition to the 60 Gchest decelera­tion limit. while those who use the Hybrid IIneed only certify they meet the chest decel­eration limitation.

Both GM and the Institute were dis­turbed by agency statements in the interimfinal rule issued in September 1990. sayingthat the Hybrid II and Hybrid III provide es­senHally similar responses during re­strained crash testing.

"In sled and barrier crash tests withidentical severities conducted with three­point belt restraint systems comlXlring theresponses of the two dummies, it was foundthat the Hybrid 111 had higher head injurycriterion (HIC) and chest accelerations thanthe Hybrid II,' O'Neill points out. Other sledtests also pointed out differences.

"This evidence," says O'Neill. "com­bined with NJ-ITSA's OW11 assertion that theHybrid III is more humanlike and therefore amore realistic device for the measure of in­jury, indicates that GM's petition should begranted: By moving ahead now, O'Neillsays automobile engineers can improve au­tomobile design because of the additionalinformation that the dummy will provide.And, says O'Neill, XHTSA can undertake re­search on improvements to FMVSS 208 thatwould help prevent face, chest. neck. ab­dominal, and leg injuries in frontal crashes,

On The InsideINSULlN·TREATED DRIVERS: FHWA pro­poses to drop prohibition against permit·ting insulin-treated persons to operatecommercial vehicles Page I

HYBRID 111: GM says auto makers shouldbe required to use the Hybrid 111 dummy incompliance tests Page 1

AIR BAGS: Chrysler Corporation is nowequipping the 1991 Dodge Caravan andPlymouth Voyager minivans with optionaldriver air bags Page 2

TRUCK CRASH REPORTS: Acomparisonof FHWA's truck crash reports with reportsfrom an independent study indicates thaionly 39 percent of the truckers involvedobeyed lhe law by filing reports with thefederal agency Page 3

THEfT LOSSES: Among the 88 most popu­lar 1990 model cars. Nissan's 300ZX has byfar the highest losses Page 3WINDOW TINTING: Institute says NHTSAshould reject a petition to allow the appli­cation of additional tinting for passengercar windows Page 4

DEATHS BV DROWNING: In some partsof the United States, run-off-the-roadcrashes resulting in drowning are not un-common , Page 5

DRINKING DRIVERS: Researchers in Aus­tralia report that heavy drinkers are just aslikely to make mistakes as light drinkersduring driving tests Page 6

Vol. 26, No. I, January 26,1991

DOOR LATCHES: NHTSA turns down an In­stitute petition to strengthen door latch as·semblies Page 6

SEAT BELT USE: Institute strongly endors­es OSHA's proposal to require employersto establish seal belt use and motorcyclehelmet use policies for workers ........Page 6INSURANCE LOSSES for vehicle damagevary Widely among 1990 car models, HLDIreports Page 7

If you are Dot now receiving Stotus Re­port on a regular basis, but would liketo, simply drop a note 10 the Communi­cations Department at the address be­low and we will add your name 10 themailing list.

STATUSHXl~I\ollh !.i1t'be Ruad\rlinll1ull VA 2lltl1(j(l.l) 2Ij·I.;rt1 FAX (703) 21i·167R

MrTTUT'-TOR

"""'"WFE> RTEditor J.>n"'S H. MOllllry

,~()Cjllte Edilllf Rea KtrT HowarthE,lITorial Mslstants, Carlen.. Hughes, Peg!::.' McDonald,'llelly),trHllilt'lIl,'ry(,f{Ulalinn l.orelt3 \tomronProou<:tiun Dlahann Hill

The In~ur'llIce ITI~llMe for Highway Safely Is an lndepen­d,>!!!, II\lIlpml,t S('1totlfie alld edocalional organlUltKl!l.lt Isd,'dl<:aIOO to ,rducln~ the losseHleaths.lnjunes and prop­ert) dllma~~lesultlnR from u<lShes (lil the natllln's hillll­....a)s Th.. ln~\ItUlt Is supported by the American Insur­ance HI~h\l'av Saltly Asso<;iation, the Arnerleln In~urer~

HIRh""a} ~alel}' A1h.1/lCe, the Natk>nal .\ssocialioo 01 Jnde­peflder!llnsur<n.<; 5.J[ety Assoclatloo and ~....'eral indivldualu.~urilIlceculllpank'S,

("!'tents 1l14}' be republi~hed whole. Of In part. with aUri.butll)n

ISSN 0018·988X