For decades, conventional wisdom in the auto industry held that “safety doesn’t sell.” And that certainly appeared to be the case when an unknown Washington attorney began looking into reports of problems with the then-popular Chevrolet Corvair.
What Ralph Nader uncovered led to the publication of the groundbreaking book, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” 50 years ago this week. And it resulted in a major shift in thinking by both the American public and the auto industry that has led to significant improvements in vehicle safety and a huge decline in highway fatalities.
As many 3.5 million Americans would have been killed over the past half-century had Nader’s muckraking work not led to the passage of the first highway safety laws and the dramatic changes in vehicle design and technology that followed, according to a new study by the Center for Auto Safety.
“The book was one of the most instrumental ever published in terms of public policy,” says Joan Claybrook, former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and a still active advocate for vehicle safety.
“Unsafe at Any Speed” might have had only a marginal impact if not for the over-reaction by General Motors, which hired private detectives to investigate Nader, recalls Claybrook, adding that “All hell broke loose” when that was revealed. It turned Nader into “a national figure and, within nine months propelled the legislation,” the nation’s first auto safety bill drafted by the Johnson Administration.
Despite the industry’s conventional wisdom, consumers really were long concerned about vehicle safety, contends Adrian Lund, the director of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The problem was that there was really no place to get objective information. “Everybody was claiming their cars were safe, but there was no objective third-party to actually say who was building a safer car,” says Lund.
The new laws changed that. The bill led to the creation of both the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It authorized the creation of new rules meant to set vehicle standards and, subsequently, to test and compare vehicles.
Traffic deaths totaled 50,894 the year Nader’s book went to press. But as the new rules went into effect, and newer vehicles — designed to both prevent crashes and ensure the safety occupants in the event of a collision – became more commonplace, the toll began to tumble.
In 1966, 5.50 Americans were killed for every 100 million miles traveled. Last year, the death rate was 1.07. At the higher figure, 167,956 people would have been killed on U.S. roads. Instead, the number was 32,675.
When “Unsafe at Any Speed” was published, it would have seemed hard to imagine that the U.S. highway death toll could drop even as much as it has, but despite the recent upturn, many safety proponents believe there’s opportunity for even greater improvements ahead.
Read more of the original article in The Detroit Bureau.
