Front bumpers
Page 5
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FRONT underrun bumpers are high on the Department of Transport's safety shopping list for lorries, senior officials made clear last week.
They were speaking at an open forum in London organised by the Institute of Road Transport Engineers.
The DTp's Jim Clifton said he expects technical expertise to lead to the development of a practical underrun bumper for the front of lorries. Rear underruns already protect car drivers who ran into lorries at 30mph, he said.
Concern for front bumpers is in contrast to the priority given to wheel failures, described by Roger Denniss of Bass as a very major problem.
Pat Murphy from the DTp explained that research fund cutbacks mean that cash has to be directed into environmental research and more important safety research.
Wheel failures result in relatively few serious accidents, he said. A request from the Motor Industry Research Association for a £40,000 research project had been refused.