City Bull-bars A Hazard For Drivers And Pedestrians

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday November 17, 1994

City and suburban drivers were still fitting bull-bars to their vehicles even though they were a hazard to occupants and pedestrians, an NRMA expert has told a northside road safety committee.

The behavioural scientist with the NRMA's Road Safety Department, Mr Thomas Higgins, was a guest speaker at a meeting of Operation Eagle, a traffic safety program operating in the Northern Suburbs Police District.

He said bull-bars on city cars stopped pedestrians, when struck, from going onto the bonnet. Instead they could end up beneath the vehicle.

There was also evidence that bull-bars prevented the crushing impact zone of a vehicle from working as it should. Instead of the front of a car collapsing and absorbing the impact in an accident, a bull-bar could cause the impact to be taken by the occupants. Bull-bars could also cause early triggering of an airbag.

© 1994 Sydney Morning Herald

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