The Nut Behind the Wheel
99% Invisible5 Joulu 2017

The Nut Behind the Wheel

In the past fifty years, the car crash death rate has dropped by nearly 80 percent in the United States. And one of the reasons for that drop has to do with the “accident report forms” that police officers fill out when they respond to a wreck. Officers use these forms to document the weather conditions, to draw a diagram of the accident, and to identify the collision’s “primary cause.” All that information gathered on the side of the road goes from the accident report form into a federal database: the Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

Car companies, safety advocates, and regulators comb through this data constantly, looking for patterns that help them understand how and why people die in car wrecks. In turn, this information helps designers and engineers create safer vehicles and roadways. The data informs all kinds of design decisions around car safety — everything from speed limits to mandatory seat belts.

But this culture of heavily regulated, data-driven, auto-safety engineering did not always exist. In fact, for decades, automakers tried to keep data about car wrecks to themselves. They not only resisted making cars safer, they argued the very idea of a “safe car” was impossible.

The Nut Behind the Wheel

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.

Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(780)

The Trials of Dan and Dave

The Trials of Dan and Dave

This is the story of an ad campaign produced for the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona. Perennial runner-up in the sports shoe category, Reebok, was trying to make its mark and take down Nike. They chos...

18 Heinä 201752min

Repackaging the Pill

Repackaging the Pill

Most people are familiar with at least one version of the birth control pill’s packaging — a round plastic disc which opens like a shell and looks like a makeup compact. But the pill wasn’t always pac...

11 Heinä 201717min

The Pool and the Stream

The Pool and the Stream

This is the story of a curvy, kidney-shaped swimming pool born in Northern Europe that had a huge ripple effect on popular culture in Southern California and landscape architecture in Northern Califor...

4 Heinä 201730min

Mexico 68

Mexico 68

The 1968 Olympics took place in Mexico City, Mexico. It was the first Games ever hosted in a Latin American country. And for Mexico City, the event was an opportunity to show the world that they were ...

27 Kesä 201721min

You Should Do a Story

You Should Do a Story

“You should do a story…” is the first line to a lot of the conversations you have when you work at 99pi. This week we look into a bunch of those stories suggested by our listeners and present them to ...

20 Kesä 201725min

In the Same Ballpark

In the Same Ballpark

In the 1992, the Baltimore Orioles opened their baseball season at a brand new stadium called Oriole Park at Camden Yards, right along the downtown harbor. The stadium was small and intimate, built wi...

13 Kesä 201724min

Intro to a new Roman Mars podcast: What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law

Intro to a new Roman Mars podcast: What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law

Special introductory episode to a new podcast produced by Roman Mars and Elizabeth Joh. Professor Elizabeth Joh teaches Intro to Constitutional Law and most of the time this is a pretty straight forwa...

8 Kesä 201711min

The Yin and Yang of Basketball (Repeat)

The Yin and Yang of Basketball (Repeat)

In 1891, a physical education teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts invented the game we would come to know as basketball. In setting the height of the baskets, he inadvertently created a design probl...

7 Kesä 201719min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
mimmit-sijoittaa
rss-rahapodi
psykopodiaa-podcast
rss-rahamania
rss-seuraava-potilas
pomojen-suusta
taloudellinen-mielenrauha
ostan-asuntoja-podcast
rss-lahtijat
rss-20-30-40-podcast
rahapuhetta
rss-sisalto-kuntoon
herrasmieshakkerit
rss-bisnesta-bebeja
rss-karon-grilli
rss-draivi
juristipodi
rss-inspiroivat-naiset
rss-siksi-viestinta