June 27, 2007 07:07 PM UTC

Clean Cars are Safe Cars

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• by: EnvironmentColorado

Increased fuel economy standards are compatible with safety.  Some people may oppose clean cars because they view clean cars as dangerous alternative to their existing vehicles.  But the science shows that safety will not be compromised with new standards.

A 2002 report by National Academy of Sciences concluded that the technology already exists to raise our fuel economy standard of our vehicle fleet without compromising safety.  Most of the technologies that the NAS considered related to engines and transmission and has nothing to do with crash safety. 

In a 2004 report by S. Ahmad and D. Greene, evidence was shown that increased mpg does not correlate to higher fatalities.  Conversely, their report showed that higher mpg leads to a decreased number of fatalities.  Their conclusion was based off of an analysis of data from 1966 – 2002. 

The weight of a vehicle is not a determinant of vehicle safety.  This conclusion was reached by M. Ross and T. Wenzel in 2002, who found that the quality of the engineering is the key determinant of a vehicle’s safety.  Their study demonstrated that compact cars such as the Honda Civic and the Volkswagen Jetta have lower driver fatality rates than the Ford Explorer, the Dodge Ram, or the Toyota 4Runner.  A later study showed that increased weight actually leads to increased fatalities. 

The safety concern of clean cars has been debunked.  Now consumers can make smarter decisions by buying cleaner cars and supporting a Clean Cars program in Colorado.  The Clean Cars program would give consumers more vehicle options which take into account both safety and reducing global warming pollution.

For more info on the science behind clean vehicles visit: http://www.ucsusa.or…