Prevention and safety equipments

Prevention and safety in general

• Euro NCAP is a European organisation consisting of government agencies and interest groups that receives support from the EU. They test the safety of new cars. The Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) is a member of this organization.
• After you washed your car in a carwash, you should first check if the brakes work properly, before driving away. Washing your car may result in the brakes becoming less effective because they are not protected like the electrical system. Testing the brakes heats them up and removes the moisture.
• Calling while driving, whether it’s with the phone in one hand or hands-free, decreases your attention and causes unwanted diversion which reduces your driving abilities, thus putting you, your passengers and other road users at a risk.
• Sometimes it’s better to keep a lower speed than the maximum allowed speed. Aiming to keep the speed limit is generally preferred to keep the flow of traffic, but sometimes you would assess that it would be a lot safer to keep a significant lower speed, for instance if you see children near the road. This means you can adapt your speed to the current situation.
• Directly after driving through a big puddle of water (image 1), you should test the brakes. Because water can affect the braking system due to moisture between the brake shoe and brake disc. Testing the brakes heats them and removes the moisture, therefore you must always test the brakes when driving through a puddle of water, especially big puddles.

Image 1: Test the brakes after you drove through a puddle of water

• You should always be in control of your vehicle to avoid any accidents. This means that you should always keep your speed in such range that you are able to stop for an anticipated or sudden obstacle.
• You as a driver are not responsible for anyone above the age of 14 to put on their seatbelts. Passengers above the age of 14 years are considered adult enough to understand the repercussions of their decisions regarding traffic rules and regulations. Therefore, it´s the responsibility of any passenger that is 15 years old or older to put on their seatbelt.
• It's recommended to keep about 1 meter distance between your car and parked cars, on the side of the road (image 2). The door of a parked car may open at any time, because it can be hard to see whether or not someone is in a car.

Image 2: Keep 1 meter distance

Airbags

• Sitting too close to an airbag can lead to serious injures when it fills up in case of an accident. It´s recommended that the driver sits at least 25 cm away from the steering wheel's airbag.
• It takes about 0.1 seconds for an airbag to fill up.
• When an airbag is triggered on the front seat, while there is a child safety seat on that seat, it will very forcefully push a child safety seat against the seat. This will cause a great impact on the child, and in addition traps the child. Therefore child seats should not be installed without either removing or disconnecting the airbag first. The airbag does not necesarrily have to be removed, it's sufficient if you deactivate it.
• When a child reaches the height of 135 cm, it´s allowed to sit as an adult in a passenger seat with no airbag. However, it´s safe for a child to sit like an adult in a passenger seat with an airbag only once it´s 140 cm tall. Children below 135 cm are to be secured using special safety seats, which eliminate the requirement for the airbag.

Safety equipment

• Seat belts have an in-built belt tensioner to avoid harsh impact in cases of a crash. It pulls the belt with great force and keeps the belt in place to prevent the passenger as much as possible from the impact of a crash.
• Children below 135 cm are to be secured using special safety seats. Some people might think that the age of a child is that which determines which safety equipment should be used, however, it´s determined by the child’s height.
• An alcolock is a technical device that is connected to the ignition that prevents a person that has been drinking alcohol from starting the vehicle, thus eliminating the risk of drunk driving.
• The E-mark (image 3) is the EU safety standard and child safety equipment must be certified with this. Equipment with T-Mark has been forbidden since May 2008.

Image 3: The E-mark

Vision zero

• Vision Zero is the aim for a future where there is a zero mortality rate and zero occurrences of any serious injury in road traffic. This is the basis for all traffic safety work in Sweden.
• According to the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) the best way to make progress when it comes to Vision Zero is by making vehicles and roads safer.