Here are some books that you may find useful during your studies. Search the Bennies catalogue Oliver for more, or browse the Non-fiction collection NFS.
The science behind airbags, how they work.
We support lower speed limits in built-up areas to help reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries. Travelling at lower speeds improves a driver's ability to stop and avoid crashes, especially in areas of high pedestrian activity. Where crashes do occur they are less severe, especially for children and the elderly.
This Information Sheet presents estimates of the impact of airbags and electronic stability control (ESC) on fatalities in light vehicle crashes.
Work = F X D, Kinetic energy, stopping distance. There are a lot of crashes in this program. Stopping distance & average force * We stop a car at different distances and graph the average stopping force vs distance. * Concept of crumple zone to increase stopping distance in a crash. Kinetic energy - effect of speed * Energy and damage depends on square of speed. * Stopping distance depends on square of speed.
What happens to vehicles and their occupants in crashes is determined by science. "You can't argue with the laws of physics," says Griff Jones, award-winning high school physics teacher who goes behind the scenes at the Institute's Vehicle Research Center to explore the basic science behind car crashes. Using a series of vehicle maneuvers on a test track plus filmed results of vehicle crash tests, Jones explains in anything but lecture style the concept of inertia, the relationship between crash forces and inertia, momentum and impulse, and a lot more.
Howsafeisyourcar.com.au has been developed to provide car buyers with independent information about the safety of the new and used cars on the Australian market. Cars are given a one to five star rating (five being the highest), based on results from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) for new cars or Used Car Safety Ratings (UCSR) which are an analysis of real world crash data. Our site provides safety ratings for approximately 80% of the cars being driven on Australian roads, however this represents only about a third of the models available on the Australian market.
Vehicle safety features have come a long way over the years. Features such as crumple zones, seat belts and airbags all provide protection if you have a crash, but the future of vehicle safety lies with active safety features - safety assist technologies which can prevent a crash from occurring.
The most important thing you can do to protect your life is to buckle your seatbelt. Safety belts save lives on their own and many of the more advanced safety features, such as forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking can help you avoid accidents.
Considerable effort has been made in Australia to reduce deaths and injuries from motor vehicle accidents. This has included the introduction of compulsory seat belt requirements; installation of red light and speed cameras; improving the design of roads and vehicles (including airbags); strengthening and enforcing the laws governing road use; and increasing public awareness of road safety. As a result, the number of road accident fatalities has declined over the last four decades despite population growth and increased motor vehicle use.