VERITY NOW Applauds Passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and Continued Momentum in Gender Equity in Auto Safety
WASHINGTON, D.C. – VERITY NOW, a leading coalition voice promoting equity in auto safety, released the following statement following the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The bill includes language directing the GAO to submit a report to Congress outlining the processes used by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for studying and deploying crash test dummies; the seating positions in which dummies are tested; a plan for ensuring dummies reflect the physical and demographic characteristics of the driving public including -- females, the elderly and young adults.
"We are thrilled Congress has passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill which includes important language that directly impacts the nearly 116 million female drivers in the United States. By calling on the GAO to examine gender discrimination in the government’s crash test safety program, members of Congress are signaling that they want an end to needless deaths and injuries suffered by women and other vulnerable groups. Countries around the world have stepped up their efforts and adopted far more technologically advanced crash test dummies and testing regimes. It is time for Secretary Buttigieg and this administration to stop studying the issue and waiting on reports; the Secretary has the power to mandate equal testing under NCAP today. He should direct his agency to stop studying this problem to death and fix it now.”
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About VERITY NOW
VERITY NOW (Vehicle Equity Rules in Transportation) strives to achieve equity in vehicle safety by educating and advocating for crash testing standards that protect everybody, regardless of gender, height, weight, or age. Inherent biases in crash testing put women, young people, the elderly, and heavier body types at significantly higher risk of injury or death in car crashes. This is unacceptable. Updates need to be made to vehicle crash testing standards and practices to understand better the safety needs of a broader range of body types. VERITY NOW is a group of organizations and individuals who share a common concern about these inequities and work with policymakers to implement change to save lives.