Smarter-Transportation..

seat belt
A seat belt or seatbelt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop. As part of an overall automobile passive safety system, seat belts are intended to reduce injuries by stopping the wearer from hitting hard interior elements of the vehicle, or other passengers (the so-called second impact), are in the correct position for the airbag to deploy and prevent the passenger from being thrown from the vehicle. Seat belts also absorb energy by being designed to stretch during any sudden deceleration, so that there is less speed differential between the passenger”s body and their vehicle interior, and also to spread the loading of impact on the passengers body.
rest on …
The greater part of our knowledge does not rest on reasoning or on experiment, but on authority.
Such a view rests on a number of incorrect assumptions.
Unit Eight
Smarter Transportation
Lead-in question
The car had a significant effect on the American lifestyle. Car ownership came to be associated with independence, freedom, and increased social status.
Background information
In the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) supports different programs and projects to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce car crashes. Its Occupant Protection Division provides national leadership in planning and developing traffic injury control programs in the areas of safety belt and child safety seat use, and automatic occupant protection systems (e.g. air bags)
He studied biology, anthropology and limnology at the University of North Dakota and University of Minnesota.
He also contributes science articles to TIME’s sister publication, TIME For Kids magazine.
Difficult sentences (3)
Adams’ interpretation of the data rests on the notion of risk compensation, the idea that individuals tend to adjust their behavior in response to what they perceive as changes in the level of risk. (Para. 3)
A lap (“2-point“) belt in an airplane
A 3-point seat belt
Difficult sentences (1)
Seat belts still decrease our risk of dying in an accident, but the statistics are not all black and white.
Do you want to have a car? Why or why not?
Group Discussion
The benefits of owning a car:
The problems caused by private cars:
The ways to solve traffic congestion in
他的觉察与人们的普遍看法恰恰相反－－在18 个强制使用安全带的国家，要么交通事故死亡 率根本没有变化，要么实际上反而导致了死亡 率的净增长。
John Adams
He was a professor of Geography at University College, London. In 1981, he wrote a paper “The efficacy of seatbelt legislation:
亚当斯用风险补偿的概念来解释这些数据资料， 这个概念就是：人们往往会依据他们意识到的 风险程度的转变来相应地调整自己的行为。
Risk compensation:
In ethology, risk compensation is an effect whereby individual people may tend to adjust their behavior in nse to perceived changes in risk. It is seen as self-evident that individuals will tend to behave in a more cautious manner if their perception of risk or danger increases.
Text: The Hidden Danger of Seat Belts
This article introduces to the readers a sociological research on occupant protection means. It tells us that technology is important, yet technology is not everything.
As to the roads, one solution is to widen the roads. Regulations are important too. Traffic lights, cameras, rush hour lanes, and the like, may work together to reduce congestions.
David Bjerklie:
a senior reporter at TIME, cover a broad range of stories for the science section since 1984 on topics as cold fusion, cloning, ice age art, vegetarianism, bioethics, the origin of life, and also cover obesity, fetal development, mental health, women and heart disease, diabetes and diet
Some have proposed that the number of deaths was influenced by the development of risk compensation, which says that drivers adjust their behavior in response to the increased sense of personal safety wearing a seat belt provides.
座椅安全带固然能降低我们在车祸中死亡的危 急，但从统计数据看，状况并不是那么确定。
Difficult sentences (2)
What he found was that contrary to conventional wisdom, mandating the use of seat belts in 18 countries resulted in either no change or actually a net increase in road accident deaths. (Para. 2)
cities:
How to solve the problem of congestion:
We can address this problem from two aspects: one from the car itself and the other from the road.
As to cars, new technology can help make cars smarter and smaller. For example, radars will warn a driver … ; GPS guides drivers …; Cars are made foldable.
A comparative study of road accident fatality statistics from 18 countries”. The paper was published in 1982 by the Society of Automotive Engineers.[2] The paper showed that in the countries studied, which included states with and without seat belt laws, there was no correlation between the passing of seat belt legislation and the total reductions in injuries or fatalities. When all associated fatalities and injuries in road accidents were included, it appeared that some accidents were being displaced from car drivers to pedestrians and other road users.