Comparing motor-­vehicle crash risk of EU and US vehicles

Abstract

This study examined the hypotheses that vehicles meeting EU safety standards perform similarly to US-­‐regulated vehicles in the US driving environment, and vice versa. The analyses used three statistical approaches to “triangulate” evidence regarding differences in crash and injury risk. Separate analyses assessed crash avoidance technologies, including headlamps and mirrors. The results suggest that when controlling for differences in environment and exposure, vehicles meeting EU standards offer reduced risk of serious injury in frontal/side crashes and have driver-­‐side mirrors that reduce risk in lane-­‐change crashes better, while vehicles meeting US standards provide a lower risk of injury in rollovers and have headlamps that make pedestrians more conspicuous.