In The News
The section below features articles and events highlighting the key issues VERITY Now is trying to solve: How outdated crash testing standards have led to inequity in vehicle safety for everyone outside the average sized male.
U.S. Reps. Lawrence, Castor, DeLauro, Norton, and Schakowksy Lead 61 House Members in Letter Urging DOT to Use Up-To-Date Female Crash Test Dummies in Vehicle Safety Testing
U.S. Representatives Brenda L. Lawrence (MI-14), Kathy Castor (FL-14), Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-At-Large), and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) led a letter, with 61 House colleagues, to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to protect women drivers by requiring that accurate, up-to-date female crash test dummies are used in the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and in determining the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Women are affected differently in car crashes. Auto tests should reflect that.
Traffic-fatality statistics contain a quandary: Men are more likely to cause car accidents, but women are more likely to die in them.
NYT: Crash Test Dummies Made Cars Safer (for Average-Size Men)
Photo Credit: Matt Williams
Designers and researchers are now trying to leverage cutting-edge technology to create a system that better protects every body, women’s included.
WASHINGTON POST: Women are more likely to die or be injured in car crashes. There’s a simple reason why.
We live in a world designed for men. The top shelves in many supermarkets are too high for many women to reach. Many cellphones are too big for an average woman’s hand. And because women’s bodies have a lower metabolic resting rate than men’s, the typical office is about five degrees too cold for women.
STREETSBLOG USA: Advocates Urge Federal Update of Flawed Crash Testing Standards That Discriminate by Sex
Simple reforms to federal testing standards could end horrific disparities in car crash deaths between the sexes — and the impending enactment of the new infrastructure bill is the perfect time to implement them, a new coalition says.
FOX NEWS: Group pushes for gender equity in vehicle crash testing
Car crash-test dummies may help demonstrate how well vehicles withstand hazards, but safety advocates argue current models aren’t doing enough to protect typical American drivers. The group Verity Now, Vehicle Equity Rules in Transportation, is urging the Biden Administration to bring equity and equality to the government’s 5-star safety rating program.
WTOP: Group pushes for gender equity in car safety testing
A group of former members of Congress, gender equity and transportation leaders have sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, asking him to end gender discrimination that the transportation department perpetuates by only requiring male dummies in the driver seat for safety testing.
Invisible Bias: The Fatal Impact of a World Designed for Men
VERITY NOW (Vehicle Equity Rules in Transportation) Coalition and United State of Women (USOW) recently held a virtual event, Invisible Bias: The Fatal Impact of a World Designed for Men, to discuss gender bias in data and learn how the public can take action to advocate for equity in design.