Editorial: Preventing traffic deaths

Wednesday, June 14, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.

A computerized stability system that is designed to prevent rollovers, and is installed in certain luxury models of cars and sport-utility vehicles, could drastically reduce the number of traffic accident deaths if installed on all vehicles, an insurance industry group says.

According to a recent story by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is funded by the insurance industry, said electronic stability controls are as important to safety as seat belts and air bags. But the device currently is standard equipment on only 40 percent of the vehicles sold in the United States - most of them among the highest-priced models on the market.

The control system uses electronic sensors to detect when a driver is about to lose control of a car by sensing when the vehicle veers sharply or strays from the intended line of travel, usually at a high rate of speed - such as when a motorist skids on a slippery surface or tries to avoid an object or a pedestrian who suddenly enters his path. The system can then brake to control the slide or even automatically reduce its acceleration, thereby avoiding the rollover.

Such equipment, if used on all vehicles, could reduce rollovers of SUVs by 80 percent, those involving cars by 77 percent and slash all traffic deaths by one-third. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to propose that the system be standard on all vehicles. We hope the agency succeeds. Such a valuable safety device belongs on every car, truck and SUV sold no matter how much - or how little - someone pays for the vehicle.