DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Jeffrey W. Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administation, was an emergency room physician for 30 years. You can imagine how many how many auto-accident victims he treated there — but you don’t need to, because I found real numbers: “[Dr. Runge’s] passion for reducing injuries comes from being a clinician in North Carolina’s busiest trauma center, treating over 30,000 injuries yearly, 10,000 of which are motor vehicle related.” [Source: Dr. Jeffrey W. Runge Becomes 12th National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator]

In a speech in Dearborn, MI, heart of the SUV industry, Runge made surprising remarks about SUV safety. He reported statistics about rollover fatalities and about the risk to drivers of small cars when they get crushed by SUVs. That had to take courage, to deliver that message to a roomful of auto executives who have been raking in profits on the sale of such dangerous vehicles.

The NHTSA site contains Runge’s presentation materials and speaking notes. After reading his prepared speech I was confused, because it seemed somewhat dry and invective-free. But perhaps he embellished on the prepared notes, as implied by the Chron when they report that he “tack[ed] on his own outrage”, and by the Washington Post when they report that “he sharply criticized SUVs on safety grounds”.

Or perhaps the real fireworks weren’t in his speech, but in a followup interview with the Wall Street Journal. It’s the WSJ article that generated most of the coverage I could find. For example, Car & Driver reports on the WSJ article under the headline Safety Chief Warns Buyers Off SUVs:

Runge told the Wall Street Journal that sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks aren’t safe enough and that consumers should think hard before buying one. Runge said that because of their high center of gravity, SUVs are prone to rollovers during sudden maneuvers, and warned that if automakers did not make design changes to make the vehicles safer, the government might step in to mandate changes.

More coverage of the WSJ article: Government’s Top Auto Safety Regulator Speaks Truth About SUV Dangers; It’s Time for Action

Still more: an editorial in the Chronicle includes this candid comment from Runge on the apparent safety of SUVs: “gut instinct is great for a lot of stuff, but it’s not very good for buying a safe automobile”.

So this seems like a big first step towards changes, whether they take the form of voluntary changes by manufacturers or mandated changes to comply with new federal regulation.

The next step is already in place: CNN reports that Senator McCain will ask Runge to testify this month about the possibility of issuing new safety regulations targeted at SUVs. McCain’s not in bed with big auto (or big oil), so he has the right kind of energy for an effort like this.

The refreshing thing about Runge’s comments is that they’re so not in line with what seems to be our current administration’s efforts to put an SUV (and a snowmobile) in every garage. (I’m referring to recent moves by Bush to provide huge tax breaks to small business owners that purchase SUVs, and to require only modest increases in fuel economy — so modest that Bush’s requirements are actually lower than the industry’s voluntary efforts.) I guess I should not be surprised to see CNN report that “the Bush administration has sought to downplay [Runge’s] comments, saying they didn’t amount to a blanket indictment of SUVs.” What a spin that is — for that’s exactly what Runge’s comments were!