Dipl.-Ing. Britta Schnottale is a scientific employee at the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) in the "Passive Vehicle Safety and Biomechanics" department. Here she is responsible for issues relating to the safety of children in vehicles. This includes work in national and European research projects, parts of the legal regulation as well as consumer protection.
The Federal Highway Research Institute is a research institution in the department of the Federal Ministry of Transport. The objective of the research is, among other things, to improve the safety of road traffic. It has a budget of 47 million euros, employs 400 people and operates, among other things, its own crash test facility.
Just a few decades ago, it was perfectly okay to take children unsecured in the car. Then the first child seats were developed. Today there are driving assistants and we talk about autonomous driving. Has the pinnacle of safety in driving been reached?
The peak of safety, not only in driving, would be to achieve Vision Zero, i.e. no deaths or serious injuries in road traffic. However, it is not enough to focus on vehicle-related measures alone. The entire road traffic system must be designed in accordance with this goal. Every individual as a road user must also be aware of his or her responsibility for his or her life and that of other road users.
Accidents are often the result of negligence, perhaps even ignorance. Is there a lack of educational work?
All those involved in road safety work are aware that road safety is not possible without educating road users. Education is an essential component in the reduction of fatalities and serious injuries. Here, awareness must be created for safe participation in road traffic and for responsibility for oneself and for others. Numerous campaigns and activities aimed at creating this awareness and imparting the necessary knowledge are offered by various sponsors on the different topics of road participation. Of course, new ideas for conveying information are always needed here, as well as new ways to reach the target groups. At the same time, new road users, new car drivers, new parents, new dog owners, etc. arrive every day, so the educational work is never finished.
The properly secured dog in the car also protects the human passengers. Making dog owners aware BEFORE something happens seems to be no easy task. How long did it take for child seats to become a matter of course?
In 1991, just 32 percent of children in Germany were secured in a child safety system in built-up areas, and another 32 percent were secured with an adult seat belt. Since 1993, it has been compulsory to secure a child in a child restraint system. In 1993, 51 percent of children were restrained in a child safety seat and 32 percent in a seatbelt in a car. In 2020, 91.2 percent of children were restrained in a child safety system and 8.6 percent in a seatbelt in a car. For most parents, especially for children up to the age of 6, the use of a child protection system has become a matter of course. For older children, the rate of 87.4 percent use of a child protection system in built-up areas is not quite as good. In addition to the obligation to use child protection systems, numerous campaigns to secure children in vehicles by a wide range of organisations have also contributed to the fact that we have a high rate of child protection system use in Germany. However, it should also be pointed out that these figures say nothing about whether the child safety seat is being used properly. Here, too, information and education of all those who are responsible for securing the child and also of the children themselves is still and always necessary.
Is there anything you would like to say to drivers with dogs or in general?
As already said, every road user should be aware of the responsibility for his or her own life and that of the others involved in the overall traffic system. Of course, this also applies to driving with a dog. A dog should be secured during a car journey in such a way that it does not pose a danger to the vehicle occupants. This applies to both distraction and obstruction during the driving task. Last but not least, it must be avoided that the dog is thrown through the car in case of an accident and thus injures the passengers. All measures to secure the dog also serve to protect the dog.