WHITE VAN MAN: AN ENDANGERED SPECIES?

This article investigates why legislators and van buyers show little interest in safety features that are becoming normal for cars and lorries. Although van buyers are very interested in economy, load capacity, and manoeuvrability, they do not seem very concerned about safety. This may be one reason why legislators seem little concerned either; another reason may be that cars and lorries are much more prominent and emotive public issues. R Missen of the European Commission's Transport Directorate suspects that legislators assume that van drivers are safer than car drivers. Ford is cautiously extending its safety thinking about cars into the latest Transit models of its vans, by introducing lap-and-diagonal seat belts. Mercedes-Benz has been making similar progress, and its research has drawn attention to areas where vans need passive safety features. Volkswagen (VW) now fits air bags as standard on its car-derived Caddy van, but on none of its other commercial vehicles; however, these vehicles have many passive safety features. Anecdotal evidence suggests that forward control vehicles, especially microvans, will be affected first and most, if and when passive safety legislation extends further into the van market.