January 23, 2008
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark V. Rosenker spoke yesterday at the 2008 Washington, D.C. Auto Show in which he said the auto industry has recognized the limitations of improving the crashworthiness of its vehicles and has now shifted its focus to developing innovative technologies to help prevent accidents entirely.
“For several decades, the number of fatalities has been dropping, and more importantly, the fatality rate has also been dropping,” said Rosenker, attributing this to many things such as the use of seatbelts and child restraint systems; the development of airbags, antilock brakes, crash-absorbing vehicle frames; and campaigns to reduce drunk driving. However, as the decreases in fatalities and injury rates have leveled off in recent years, Rosenker said the industry has, “reached some practical limits in combating the physical forces involved in crashes. In recognition, the auto industry is moving beyond crash mitigation and into a new era where technology will help us prevent accidents.”
Recently, the NTSB added the issue of preventing collisions using enhanced vehicle safety technology to its list of Most Wanted Safety Improvements. At the event Rosenker highlighted the following categories of crash avoidance technology:
Vehicle-based Crash Avoidance Systems - Rear-end crash warning systems, adaptive cruise control, and automatic braking systems are designed to prevent or at least mitigate this most common type of crash. Lane departure avoidance systems and curve-speed warning systems are being developed to target the most fatal type of events, run-off-the-road accidents.
Infrastructure Telematics - A DOT initiative that includes road-based systems to provide drivers with a sophisticated means for obtaining information about their vehicles and the road, such as location-specific weather conditions, route-specific road closures, and work zone status. Adverse weather is associated with 800,000 injuries and more than 7,000 fatalities a year.
Additionally, Rosenker noted that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is revising its New Car Assessment Program, which ranks automobiles on their crashworthiness using a 5-star rating system, because 95 percent of 2006 model year vehicles received 4 or 5 stars. The new system will reflect more modern crash avoidance technology.
The complete text of Rosenker’s speech may be obtained at

Customers are frequently asking us for advice on the best mounting location for a radar detector. Unfortunately, there is not an easy answer. Choices usually come down to either mounting the detector high on the windshield or visor or low on the windshield or dashboard, and there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
High Mounting
Positioning a radar detector high on a windshield, such as by the rear-view mirror or clipped to a visor gives you better protection against police radar. A detector that is mounted high will catch some radar signals sooner than with a lower mounting. This is particularly true in more hilly terrain, or when your vehicle is travelling up a hill and a police officer is targeting traffic from the other side. A high mounted detector will encounter the radar signal sooner, providing you with more time to adjust your speed.
With a high mounting, however, you risk missing a laser alert. At 1000 feet, the light from a police laser gun is only around 2 feet wide, and this light has to hit your radar detector before you will get an alert. Since the officer is aiming the laser at a front license plate or a headlight, there is a good chance that a high mounted detector this narrow beam.
Low Mounting
A radar detector mounted low on the windshield or attached directly to the dash (with Velcro or a dash pad) will provide the best all-around solution. You will lose a little in radar range, but will gain a lot in the ability to detect laser. Of course, a radar detector alone is not enough to guarantee protection against police laser, so if laser is used in your area be sure that you have a passive solution like Laser Veil or a laser jammer.
Our Recommendation
We recommend you mount high if laser is not used in your area, or if you have an active laser jammer installed.
We recommend you mount low if laser is used in your area and you are using only a passive laser defense product (or no specific laser defense product).