Safety agency to focus on car-crash prevention

5/25/2011

WASHINGTON — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which issues rules to protect people in auto crashes, will focus its attention for the next two years on preventing accidents, Administrator David Strickland the agency’s chief said.

The agency, which in January issued a rule to prevent passenger ejections in crashes, will examine blood-alcohol-content detection systems and technology enabling vehicle-to-vehicle communications, he said. “If we can keep the crash from ever happening, that 33,000 number goes down,” he said, referring to the number of U.S. highway fatalities last year.