SilverLink - Fall 2008 - (Page 17)

RISK MANAGEMENT Transportation Industry Increased Fuel Economy Are We Gambling with Safety? by Pete Hanley The average fuel economy of new U.S. vehicles, including both cars and trucks, increased signiﬁcantly for the ﬁrst 10 years following the introduction of federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards* in 1970. After that time, and despite warnings that oil production could decrease with a resultant increase in gasoline prices, improvements stagnated from the mid to late 1980s and fuel economy actually decreased from the late 1980s through the mid 1990s.1 Why the lack of improvement? Basically, the blame lies squarely on gas guzzlers—SUVs, massive pickup trucks and the Hummer. During the 1980s, Americans fell in love with big vehicles, most of which touted safety as a major selling point. Today, with gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon, large vehicles with fuel economy numbers in the mid-teens appear to be losing favor. Skyrocketing fuel costs coupled with higher emission standards have resulted in increased pressure from the Senate to pass laws raising mpg standards to average 35 mpg by 2020. Drivers are turning to Smart Cars and other fuel-efﬁcient subcompacts to help ease the pain of ﬁlling up at the pump. Does Size Really Matter? The question on everyone’s mind is this: “Will higher mpg result in unsafe vehicles?” Physics teaches us that when two objects collide, the one with less mass will absorb more of the impact. As cars become smaller to meet the new CAFE standards, the assumption is that there will be more fatalities and serious injuries from auto accidents. For that reason, and because adherence to CAFE standards will presumably require the production of smaller, lighter, less safe vehicles, most automakers resist CAFE standards. However, there is disagreement among automotive industry experts on whether CAFE standards should be scrapped. By utilizing only existing market technology, engineers recently modiﬁed an average minivan to achieve signiﬁcantly higher fuel economy with a lower greenhouse footprint. Amazingly, this was accomplished without changing the weight of the vehicle. For the modiﬁcation, the engineers cherry-picked a customized package of technologies, including cylinder 17 SILVERLINK — FALL 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SilverLink - Fall 2008

SilverLink - Fall 2008 Table of Contents Risk Management: Toto A Marriage Made to Last Cashier’s Check Fraud? Selection Validation Digital Tool Box When the Curtain Falls Lightning Strikes Increased Fuel Economy Employee Benefits: To Infinity & Beyond Securing Retiree Healthcare Private Client Services: Batter Up! Shaking Things Up STOLI Under Attack Client Spotlight: Bellevue University Internal Happenings: SilverStone Group Wellness Activities Group

SilverLink - Fall 2008

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