From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: Pedestrian Safety Features in New Vehicles

Description: In 2018, about 6,300 pedestrians--17 per day--died from
collisions with motor vehicles in the United States, up 43% from 2008.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration developed and
proposed tests for pedestrian safety features for its New Car Assessment
Program in 2015, but hasn't made a decision on how to move forward. We
recommended they decide.

Related GAO Works: GAO-20-419: Pedestrian Safety: NHTSA Needs to Decide
Whether to Include Pedestrian Safety Tests in Its New Car Assessment
Program 

Released: April 2020

[ Background Sounds ]

[Woman on screen walking across the street with her child]

[Narrator:] American roads are getting safer if you're a driver but what
if you're a pedestrian? On average, vehicle crashes killed 17
pedestrians per day in 2018, a 43% increase since 2008. 

[On screen: 17 pedestrians killed per day in vehicle crashes in 2018]
Automakers offer safety features on many new cars to help protect
pedestrians.

[Car speedometer]

For example, crash avoidance technologies use cameras, radar, or both to
detect pedestrians. They can warn the driver while also braking
automatically to slow or stop the car. But how well do these features
work?

[Animated car receiving warning of a pedestrian in the road]

In the United States, it can be hard to tell. 

[Pedestrians crossing the street]

European countries and Japan test cars for pedestrian safety and report
the results to the public as part of their new car assessment programs. 

In 2019, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an organization
funded by the auto insurance industry, began testing pedestrian
crash-avoidance technologies in the United States. But the federal
government's new car assessment program doesn't currently include these
tests. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which runs the
program has researched pedestrian safety and developed procedures to
test new cars. In 2015, it proposed including these tests in its new car
assessment program and asked automakers and the general public to
comment on them. 

[Testing crash avoidance]

As of April 2020, the agency has not decided how it will move forward or
set a timeline for when that might happen. 
[Building on screen: United States Department of Transportation]

For more information on pedestrian safety and our recommendations, check
out our report at gao.gov.

[Bottom of screen: GAO report GAO-20-419]