Ethan Rogers

The Kinetic Crisis: Re-Engineering the American Roadway

In my coursework for Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Merced, the topic of failure analysis comes up frequently. When a machine fails, rather than simply repairing it, we take it apart to determine the underlying reason for its failure. We examine stress points, material wear, and external loading. When the American transportation infrastructure is examined through the same mechanism, the findings are chillingly clear: we are maintaining a system on the brink of catastrophic failure. Despite the sexy engineering that goes into the latest transportation technology, America is confronted by an ever-growing maelstrom of motor mayhem that defies the need for technological advancement on any logical plane.

The data gathered from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration paints a grim portrait: traffic deaths stubbornly cling to the 40,000 mark each year. It is more than a series of unfortunate incidents; it is the system's failure. Born from the symbiosis of high speeds, inattentive drivers, and an infrastructure that doesn't tolerate human error well enough to prevent catastrophe on a grand scale, the problem pieces are a toxic stew of physics and psychology. That is, high-speed vehicles powered by human addiction to the dopamine rushes they get from their smartphones are enough to threaten the structural integrity of the system, and while drunk-driving incidents continue to contribute to the problem, social technologies have added a whole new layer to the stability quotient: instability.

However, the damage wrought by this systemic failure is more than just dented steel and pavement. It is a human toll of a type that is irreversibly corrosive. It is a shock to consider that, as a prospective design student, the human body is by far the weakest link in the equation of automotive engineering. It's when the vehicle goes from zero to the speed of highway traffic in a matter of seconds that the human body is subjected to gravitational forces that are destructive to tissue and bone. While the immediate damage is a body blow, damage of a different kind is much more extensive.

Families are left to contend with the loss of a new dad, sister, or younger brother out of the blue. There is no accounting for the magnitude of loss. Nevertheless, in strictly logistical terms, the dollar toll is incalculable. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the loss of life occasioned by traffic accidents translates to billions of dollars of lost salaries and medical expenses every single year.

Solving a differential equation is child's play compared with navigating the legal aftermath of such disasters. In the world of engineers, everything is about constants and absolutes. In the world of lawyers, nothing is quite so simple. In fact, liability can be a matter of degree. "One of the biggest challenges presented by car accidents is attributing fault in a disorganized and dynamic system," said Doug Ramsey, vice president of product planning at Hyundai Motor America.

"In California, as with most of the country, there is a policy of 'pure comparative negligence,' as established by the landmark decision of Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975)." Here, the legal system recognizes that most accidents are not the "fault" of either one of the individuals involved. "A jury is asked to assign a percentage of fault to each participant," said attorney David Hurt, a former engineer with experience as a product expert witness.

"Let's say a plaintiff is texting and is subsequently hit by a driver running a red light. In that circumstance, a lawyer must use a mathematical formula meant to determine a reduced award, and that's when a good lawyer becomes absolutely crucial, like a 'forensic engineer' of sorts, who must rebuild the incident using telemetry, witness statements, and expert review, so that his client is not broken by a corporate insurance company."

These challenges can be addressed by having a system of laws and regulations playing the role of safety governors on an engine. These governors have been established based on blood alcohol levels, seatbelt use, and speed limits, informed by traffic surveys. A critical analysis of the safety governors, however, shows they have failed. They are put into law, although their enforcement is selective.

No-fly texting policies can neither be enforced nor viewed by the very keen eye of law enforcers, who cannot be everywhere at the same time. Moreover, the cost of the consequences cannot be measured against the advantage gained by speeding or the urge to check the message. This is where the engineering approach holds out the greatest hope.

To deal with this crisis, we have to move away from punishment and set our sights on prevention. We have to speed up the integration of ADAS Systems. Automatic Braking Systems and Lane Keeping Assistance have got to be as non-negotiable as the use of seat belts.

As long as the human operator is the soft spot, the machine has got to have autonomy. Yet, there is no magic bullet here. We have got to have a cultural overhaul. Public awareness campaigns have got to be rewritten with the same ferocity as the problem we are trying to combat. We have to change attitudes so that the crime of texting while driving is treated with the same moral revulsion as drunk driving.

Fixing our gaze on the horizon, with autonomous cars on the verge of entering our world, we will witness a complete rewriting of the code for road safety.

Going forward, we will witness a complete paradigm shift in road safety, from negligence on the part of the road user to a product liability litigation scenario. With autonomous cars on the road, if a car accident happens, it will be a bug in the system, not a human act. Until such a system is developed, we will have to make do with the system we imperfectly have.

To turn back the floodgates of road accidents, we will need to enforce a comprehensive system with a strong engineering background, combined with a commitment to "conscious driving." With further studies, I am motivated by the fact that we can build a safer world, one that will recognize the "kinetic energy we control every time we turn over the key."

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Works Cited

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Cost of Deaths from Motor Vehicle Crashes in the United States." CDC, 2020.
• Li v. Yellow Cab Co., 13 Cal. 3d 804 (1975).
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "Overview of Motor Vehicle Crashes in 2021." NHTSA, U.S. Department of Transportation, 2023.