0:00:01 > 0:00:05This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:05 > 0:00:08For most of human history, this was as fast as any human could travel.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13But then came steam...
0:00:14 > 0:00:16..the Industrial Revolution
0:00:16 > 0:00:19and the internal combustion engine.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Cars transformed our world.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30They made travel easier, more accessible
0:00:30 > 0:00:32and faster than ever before.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36But speed also brought danger.
0:00:49 > 0:00:50For more than sixty years,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Horizon and the BBC have reported on how scientists and engineers
0:00:54 > 0:00:58have worked tirelessly to make road deaths a thing of the past.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08These scientists have often immersed themselves in controversial
0:01:08 > 0:01:10and disturbing research.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16In this programme, we'll chart the key scientific breakthroughs
0:01:16 > 0:01:18and the struggle to apply them to the real world.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39For many of the last sixty years,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41cars have been one of the major causes of death
0:01:41 > 0:01:43amongst young adults in this country.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50In fact, in the early 1980s if you were between the ages of four
0:01:50 > 0:01:54and forty-four, you were more likely to die from traffic accidents
0:01:54 > 0:01:55than any other cause.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00It's Friday night near Reading
0:02:00 > 0:02:02Despite the frantic efforts of his rescuers,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05in a few moments from now a motorist will be dead.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13When I arrived, he was...
0:02:16 > 0:02:18His pulse was gone.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20His airway was blocked, actually,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23although he was alive, apparently, when the ambulance first arrived.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30Alex Blackhall had taken a gamble and lost.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33His death was quite unnecessary
0:02:33 > 0:02:35His car had overturned but was otherwise undamaged
0:02:35 > 0:02:37and he'd escaped without a cut
0:02:37 > 0:02:40but like two out of every three British motorists,
0:02:40 > 0:02:42he hadn't been wearing his seat belt.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48At the time thousands of people were needlessly dying
0:02:48 > 0:02:50every year on the roads.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54And although these images were shocking,
0:02:54 > 0:02:58the broadcast of Alex Blackhall s death in 1981 highlighted
0:02:58 > 0:03:01like never before that very issue.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06These pictures fuelled a debate that would transform road safety.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11It was a broadcast that helped lead to an historic victory
0:03:11 > 0:03:12in the struggle to save lives.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Getting into your car in the morning
0:03:20 > 0:03:25and driving off is about as routine as routine gets.
0:03:25 > 0:03:26It's completely automatic.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28We don't really give it a second thought
0:03:28 > 0:03:31but if I'd been around, say, fifty years ago,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35I like to think I would have been a bit less carefree because
0:03:35 > 0:03:36back then in the 1960s,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40up to 8,000 people a year died on Britain's roads.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43It's a truly horrific figure.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Now today, that's dropped to about 2,000, which is still too many
0:03:46 > 0:03:49but it's a significant improvement, especially when you consider
0:03:49 > 0:03:53how many more cars there are on the roads, but what's led to that
0:03:53 > 0:03:57improvement and is there any way we can reduce casualties even further?
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Back in the 1950s,
0:04:07 > 0:04:12most car manufacturers tended to focus on style above all else.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14They seemed relatively unconcerned by the number of people
0:04:14 > 0:04:17dying in crashes.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20However, scientists felt differently.
0:04:20 > 0:04:21They couldn't accept that
0:04:21 > 0:04:26something as domestic as the car could be causing so many deaths
0:04:26 > 0:04:29As far as they were concerned, crashes were preventable.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33When scientists examined the cause of collisions,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37they found up to 85% were a result of human error.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42So it seemed logical that the way to stop crashes happening was to
0:04:42 > 0:04:44change driver behaviour.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49The first question that needed an answer was
0:04:49 > 0:04:51why drivers made so many mistakes.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57Psychologists set about running some experiments, not very hi tech
0:04:57 > 0:05:01but even so, they would reveal the root cause of all driver error.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Manchester University's Professor John Cohen was
0:05:06 > 0:05:08one of the pioneering psychologists.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12One of Cohen's own experiments is a classic in its field.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14His experimental subjects were Manchester bus drivers
0:05:14 > 0:05:16such as Len Reeder,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19an instructor who's been driving for 22 years,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22and George Jones, in his first week of instruction.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26To begin with, I would like you to sit in the cab of the bus
0:05:26 > 0:05:31and look at the gap between these two posts, and tell me for different
0:05:31 > 0:05:35size gaps how many times out of five you think you could drive through.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Shall we begin?
0:05:37 > 0:05:40What will be measured first is the driver's assessment
0:05:40 > 0:05:42of the risk as the gap is slowly opened up.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Can you tell me how many times out of five you think you can
0:05:49 > 0:05:51drive through that gap?
0:05:51 > 0:05:52None.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57This is the first of two separate measurements, risk and hazard.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02Risk refers to the state of mind of a person, what he thinks
0:06:02 > 0:06:07he can do in a particular situation, whereas hazard refers to the
0:06:07 > 0:06:10actual performance as measured in that particular situation.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13How many times out of five? Every time.
0:06:16 > 0:06:17How many times out of five?
0:06:27 > 0:06:28None.
0:06:34 > 0:06:35How many times out of five?
0:06:35 > 0:06:37Five.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39Would you replace the markers now, please?
0:06:41 > 0:06:45Now this time, we'll open the gap bit by bit and I want you to drive
0:06:45 > 0:06:47through as soon as you can.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52The gap is gradually opened again and this time,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56when it's just wide enough, Mr Reeder brings his bus through.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05There's no doubt that this driver is exercising skill.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08He drives through leaving no more than an inch for the full length
0:07:08 > 0:07:11of the bus and in this, he has much greater skill than
0:07:11 > 0:07:15the younger drivers, but Cohen's hypothesis was that in avoiding accidents,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19his skill matters a great deal less than his judgment,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23that gaps that he thinks are wide enough, he can actually get through,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26while those that he thinks are too narrow, really are too narrow.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33And in the fifteen years since this first experiment,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36it's now been firmly established that a low accident rate
0:07:36 > 0:07:39depends on this one factor more than any other.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Professor Cohen's work showed that a driver's skill could be separated
0:07:46 > 0:07:49from his ability to make sound judgments,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and it was the latter, poor judgment, that caused accidents
0:07:55 > 0:07:59So the next question psychologists had to answer was
0:07:59 > 0:08:01what makes drivers misjudge a situation?
0:08:03 > 0:08:05They found there were two key culprits.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Cambridge psychologist Dr Ivan Brown revealed
0:08:09 > 0:08:14the effects of the first, and most universal factor, fatigue.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18With this clue that it was judgment and not skill that matters,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Brown was now able to examine the effects of fatigue on driving.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24So far, studies both in the laboratory
0:08:24 > 0:08:28and on the road had failed to show any significant effect on skill
0:08:28 > 0:08:31so he set up this experiment with human observers.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36The subject was tested twice, at the beginning
0:08:36 > 0:08:37and end of a seven hour drive,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41by two highly trained police drivers sitting in the back of his car
0:08:41 > 0:08:43They can see not only any
0:08:43 > 0:08:45minor infringements of the law that he may commit,
0:08:45 > 0:08:50but also, they'll use their judgment to note any even slightly unwise action,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53any discourtesy to other drivers or pedestrians, and they
0:08:53 > 0:08:57press a button every time they spot something they wouldn't have done.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11After seven hours' driving, the usual result is 40% more faults,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13not in skill, but in judgment and courtesy.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20The understanding that tiredness can cause drivers to make more errors
0:09:20 > 0:09:22of judgment was a breakthrough
0:09:24 > 0:09:28However, there was another greater threat to sound judgment
0:09:28 > 0:09:31revealed through an extension of Professor Cohen's work.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37This classical experiment carried out by Professor Cohen
0:09:37 > 0:09:41in 1958 is re-staged here with some of the original drivers.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46It's very nice anyway. It was the best wasn't it, Teachers?
0:09:46 > 0:09:50The atmosphere was convivial but the alcohol intake carefully monitored.
0:09:50 > 0:09:51Some must drink little or none
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Others must drink three generous doubles,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58three-quarters of a pint of whisky and soda.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03Now for the test itself.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07And drunk or sober, this bus driver is confident
0:10:07 > 0:10:11of his skill, and rightly so, for after three doubles,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14he can still get through a gap only a few inches wider than his bus
0:10:17 > 0:10:21In fact, he can do this at speeds of up to thirty miles an hour
0:10:21 > 0:10:23but when the gap is quietly narrowed to become less than
0:10:23 > 0:10:27the width of the bus, the driver with six whiskies inside him
0:10:27 > 0:10:29still drives straight through it.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40The sober driver, by comparison judges the gap correctly.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42He wouldn't even dream of trying.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Professor Cohen's work provided firm evidence that
0:10:54 > 0:10:55alcohol seriously clouded judgment.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02It might seem blatantly obvious today that there's
0:11:02 > 0:11:07a link between alcohol and dangerous driving, but back in the early 60s,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10drinking and driving was firmly rooted in British culture
0:11:10 > 0:11:14and scientists thought that the best way to change that culture
0:11:14 > 0:11:18was evidence, to actually show people just how dangerous
0:11:18 > 0:11:23drinking and driving really was but what they failed to appreciate
0:11:23 > 0:11:28was just how slow people and society would be to act on that evidence,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31and that has become a recurring theme in the history of road safety.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39It took until 1966 for the first significant victory
0:11:39 > 0:11:42in the battle against drink-driving.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45The Road Safety Bill made it an offence to drive with
0:11:45 > 0:11:48over 80mgs of alcohol per 100cc of blood.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53And to help the police enforce the new law,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56scientists invented a portable device that could tell you
0:11:56 > 0:12:00whether a person was over their limit on the spot.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02A large Scotch, please.
0:12:02 > 0:12:03You could even buy one yourself
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Next week, do-it-yourself breathalyser kits
0:12:08 > 0:12:10will be on sale all over the country.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13The idea behind them is that if you drink and drive,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16you'll want to know if you're legally fit to do so
0:12:16 > 0:12:19To start with, there will be two kits on sale to the public.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22The Drink-O-Meter is imported from America
0:12:22 > 0:12:24and will cost three shillings.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28The Alcolor, made in Cheltenham costs five shillings
0:12:28 > 0:12:30and it works exactly like the police model,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33the Alcotest 80 imported from West Germany.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37It's the only official one and you can't buy it over the counter.
0:12:37 > 0:12:38It works like this...
0:12:43 > 0:12:46After the sealed ends of the tube containing yellow crystals
0:12:46 > 0:12:50of potassium dichromate are broken off, the plastic bag is
0:12:50 > 0:12:54attached to one end of the tube and the rubber mouthpiece to the other.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00When you blow through the yellow crystals,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04they turn green above a white line if you've had too much to drink
0:13:04 > 0:13:07A little tricky to demonstrate in black and white
0:13:10 > 0:13:13In the first four years, the breathalyser saved some
0:13:13 > 0:13:175,000 lives and 50,000 injuries on the roads.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Politicians were pleased.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24It seemed we were making real progress in preventing accidents.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29Scientists, however, were not so impressed because despite the
0:13:29 > 0:13:34decrease in casualties, alcohol was still the major killer on the roads.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40Even after the Road Safety Bill at night, two out of three road
0:13:40 > 0:13:44fatalities contained more than the legal limit of blood alcohol.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49With little chance of being caught, most drivers simply ignored the law.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57It was becoming abundantly clear to scientists that
0:13:57 > 0:13:59changing human behaviour, even with new laws,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03was more challenging than anyone had anticipated so in the 1970s
0:14:03 > 0:14:07when there were still around 7, 00 people dying in car accidents
0:14:07 > 0:14:11every year on the road, they began to take a different approach.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13If you can't change the driver
0:14:13 > 0:14:16then why not change the environment in which they're driving?
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Bucknalls Lane junction near Watford, an accident black spot
0:14:30 > 0:14:33Dick Rainbird heads a team which has been pioneering low cost
0:14:33 > 0:14:37highway improvement schemes here in Hertfordshire.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41Problem is, with traffic backing from traffic lights a quarter
0:14:41 > 0:14:47of a mile away and obstructing the junction in front of us, and drivers
0:14:47 > 0:14:52wishing to avoid this queuing traffic turn into this left-turn lane,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56but instead of turning left, then drive straight through.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01We've had about seven injury accidents here through
0:15:01 > 0:15:04this in the past twelve months
0:15:09 > 0:15:11So, what are you going to do about it?
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Well, this is where, by engineering changes,
0:15:15 > 0:15:20we shall make it impossible for a driver to drive straight through
0:15:20 > 0:15:23as we have done, bring the bollards out
0:15:23 > 0:15:28and construct an extension to the small island in the side,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30and together with carriageway markings,
0:15:30 > 0:15:32make it absolutely clear that drivers
0:15:32 > 0:15:36should not be making the manoeuvre that we've just performed.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41And some of the most promising accident prevention schemes
0:15:41 > 0:15:44are often effective, despite the fact they seem perverse.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Mini-roundabouts make drivers feel uncertain
0:15:47 > 0:15:49and so they drive more safely.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51These simple blobs of paint have reduced accidents
0:15:51 > 0:15:54drastically in places.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57The same is true of no right turns.
0:15:57 > 0:15:58They may be an apparent inconvenience
0:15:58 > 0:16:02but they're highly effective road safety devices.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Right turns are the most common cause of collision in Britain.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Environmental engineering was employed all over the country
0:16:12 > 0:16:14to make the roads as foolproof as possible.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Over the years, these methods have been continually refined,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23making it harder to make poor driving decisions.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Preventing accidents is the ultimate aim of road safety
0:16:51 > 0:16:55It certainly seems to be the most logical way of reducing deaths
0:16:55 > 0:17:00but logical doesn't necessarily mean easiest or best or only.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05There was an alternative approach - accept that humans make mistakes,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08accept that crashes are inevitable, so instead of trying to
0:17:08 > 0:17:12stop them happening, concentrate on making them more survivable instead.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32Scientists now know that crashes don't consist of just one event
0:17:32 > 0:17:36In fact, in any collision, there are three separate impacts.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43But in the 1950s, it was the first of these, the primary impact
0:17:43 > 0:17:47between your car and something else, that drew scientists' attention
0:17:50 > 0:17:53When two things collide, their kinetic energy,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57the energy they have because they're moving, is released.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00It's this release of energy that bends and breaks,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03and makes the harmless suddenly deadly.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Simple laws of physics told experts that in order to survive this
0:18:08 > 0:18:11first impact, it is crucial that the structure you're
0:18:11 > 0:18:15sitting in absorbs the energy before it reaches you...
0:18:16 > 0:18:20..and the first effort to apply that idea was made in the late '50s
0:18:22 > 0:18:26A Mercedes engineer, Bela Barenyi, came up with a safety concept
0:18:26 > 0:18:29that would completely change the design of cars.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40Conventional wisdom held that the tougher the body, the safer the car.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43But Barenyi understood that if the body was too strong,
0:18:43 > 0:18:47the impact forces were transferred from the exterior to
0:18:47 > 0:18:50the interior with deadly consequences.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55Barenyi re-engineered and he reconsidered the whole issue
0:18:55 > 0:19:01and he said, well, if we provide crumple zones, together with a very
0:19:01 > 0:19:06rigid passenger cell, this would prevent injuries and fatalities
0:19:08 > 0:19:10Bela Barenyi recognised that if the front
0:19:10 > 0:19:15and back ends were built to crumple, most of the impact forces would be
0:19:15 > 0:19:18absorbed by the outside of the car before they reached the passengers.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24And if the inside was surrounded by a rigid frame
0:19:24 > 0:19:26it would shield the passenger space.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28Well, I think it was a revolution
0:19:28 > 0:19:33because now we started to re-engineer the car completely
0:19:36 > 0:19:39This is Barenyi's concept in action.
0:19:39 > 0:19:44The damage to the car is severe but the passenger space remains intact.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51The secret of this design lies deep within the car frame
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Marked in red, the skeletal members are made of special materials
0:19:57 > 0:19:59that crumple in predictable ways.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07This cross-member tightens together,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10links the two front members,
0:20:10 > 0:20:16and the energy is absorbed while this crumple zone is deformed.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20And the energy is deformed outside of the passenger compartment,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24and there's no intrusion in the passenger cell at all.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29And, do you see this car has a substantial damage
0:20:29 > 0:20:32and, if you look here, it has been pushed rearward?
0:20:32 > 0:20:37The front end is almost damaged to the half, but I'm really happy
0:20:37 > 0:20:43with this damage because it relates to energy dissipation,
0:20:43 > 0:20:48and as long as you crumple in the front end, you do not crumple
0:20:48 > 0:20:53in the interior space, and that's what protects the occupants.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Barenyi's concept is universal
0:20:56 > 0:21:01All makes of car now have crumple zones.
0:21:01 > 0:21:02All system clear.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04Counting down.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13This energy-absorbing design successfully neutralises
0:21:13 > 0:21:15the primary impact in any crash
0:21:27 > 0:21:30It does little, however, for the next stage of the crash -
0:21:30 > 0:21:32what is called the secondary impact.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39When a car crashes, it decelerates rapidly,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43but the occupants keep on going at high speed...
0:21:45 > 0:21:48..which means they impact with great force
0:21:48 > 0:21:50against the inside of the vehicle.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52And this shows what happens
0:21:52 > 0:21:55when your car is stopped by a collision...
0:21:57 > 0:21:58..and you keep going.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Crash investigator Don Huelke was all too familiar
0:22:06 > 0:22:09with the consequences of the secondary impact.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Here we have an automobile in a head-on crash with a tree
0:22:15 > 0:22:18and you can see that the steering wheel's well out of position
0:22:18 > 0:22:21and the individual then catches up to it,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25bends the steering wheel and put his face here on the centre of the hub,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28causing massive crushing of the bones of the face
0:22:28 > 0:22:32on the left side of his lower jaw and also of his nose.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Here, for example, is another case of the same sort of thing.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Here, the unrestrained driver moves forward,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43gets to the steering wheel, collapses the top part of the wheel rim,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47now exposes the rigid hub of the steering wheel
0:22:47 > 0:22:49that gets him in the chest
0:22:49 > 0:22:53to cause the significant, serious, debilitating injury.
0:22:55 > 0:22:56From the brain injury point of view,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00it's caused a whole new category of brain injuries that are due to
0:23:00 > 0:23:05the extreme violence of the crashes that occur, the tremendous
0:23:05 > 0:23:08amounts of energy that are input into the head from the violence
0:23:08 > 0:23:12of the car crash - something that never existed before the automobile.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20It soon became clear that
0:23:20 > 0:23:23it was this secondary impact that was the greatest threat to life
0:23:23 > 0:23:25so it followed that if scientists could make that
0:23:25 > 0:23:29stage of an accident survivable thousands could be saved,
0:23:29 > 0:23:33which sounds simple, but the reality was anything but.
0:23:37 > 0:23:38In the early 1960s,
0:23:38 > 0:23:43although crude crash test mannequins were used in testing,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45scientists didn't know what the forces they measured
0:23:45 > 0:23:48meant for the human body.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51So the first task would be to investigate
0:23:51 > 0:23:53the limits of human tolerance
0:23:53 > 0:23:57to figure out how much force the body could take before it broke.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00Many in the motor industry
0:24:00 > 0:24:03still claimed crashes would never be survivable.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08But research at Wayne State University in Detroit
0:24:08 > 0:24:10proved them wrong.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Faced with the epidemic of head injuries,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17these safety pioneers decided to study how skulls fractured.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20And however distasteful it was to many,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24they decided they needed to test real human corpses.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28In a disused lift shaft, dead bodies were dropped onto a metal plate
0:24:32 > 0:24:37Over the next 30 years, cadaver tests, mainly in America,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40played a crucial role in building a complete map
0:24:40 > 0:24:42of the human body's tolerance to injury.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Well, the bodies were not too difficult to get,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51as long as we didn't want very many of them.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54The bodies were donated for research at the med school
0:24:54 > 0:24:59and they used them for anatomy studies and teaching.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02And, of course, they had first call on the bodies.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08The embalmed corpses were fitted with instruments to record
0:25:08 > 0:25:11the precise movement of the head as it hit the metal plate.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15We put accelerometers on the back of the skull,
0:25:15 > 0:25:19and with the acceleration we could tell what the force was.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23It's a type of job that is not very pleasant,
0:25:23 > 0:25:25but after a while you get used to it.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29And it's not very pleasant, I suppose, to operate on somebody,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31but surgeons do it all the time
0:25:31 > 0:25:35So we got used to it and suffered through it.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47The head drop showed how much force it actually took to crack a skull
0:25:47 > 0:25:49and cause brain injury.
0:25:49 > 0:25:50The thing that surprised me
0:25:50 > 0:25:55was how much the head could take without being fractured,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58and we found that, oddly enough
0:25:58 > 0:26:02the head can take a very high force
0:26:02 > 0:26:05before it is seriously injured about 400 Gs,
0:26:05 > 0:26:10which represents probably a tonne and a half,
0:26:10 > 0:26:12but only for very short times.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16We're talking about thousandths of a second,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20and then it can stand a much lower force for a longer time.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29Larry Patrick and his team gathered their findings
0:26:29 > 0:26:33and created a graph showing what forces and over what duration
0:26:33 > 0:26:34would cause damage.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Provided the impact to the head was below the curve,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41they knew there would be no brain injury in a car crash
0:26:47 > 0:26:51If we could determine that human head could take 1,200 lbs
0:26:51 > 0:26:54for ten milliseconds,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57then we could design a car so that that would be the maximum force
0:26:57 > 0:26:59that would be applied to the head.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07Unfortunately, Larry Patrick's research
0:27:07 > 0:27:10was not immediately applied to improve car design.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Back then, reduced head injury didn't sell cars.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21Style did, and style often conflicted with safety.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25MUSIC: "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen
0:27:31 > 0:27:35It seemed that the public wanted a fast, fun car,
0:27:35 > 0:27:37even if it killed them.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39# Louie, Louie... #
0:27:39 > 0:27:40In the early '60s,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45most manufacturers did little to soften obviously lethal features.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48In those days, the vehicles were very hard inside.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52There were no padded dashboards there were knobs that stuck out
0:27:52 > 0:27:56to control the radio and the gear shift lever.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59The windshields were very stiff and hard.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02The header where the windshield and the roof come together
0:28:02 > 0:28:05were very stiff, and so when the head hit those structures,
0:28:05 > 0:28:06we got a lot of skull fractures
0:28:06 > 0:28:10a lot of bruising of the brain subdural blood clots,
0:28:10 > 0:28:12epidural blood clots such as this,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16where there's a lot of damage in one spot.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19In order to find the blood clot at that time, numerous holes
0:28:19 > 0:28:22had to be drilled into the skull, first on the one side
0:28:22 > 0:28:25and then if nothing was found, on the other side,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27and if nothing was found on both sides, you hoped that
0:28:27 > 0:28:30there wasn't one hiding in between the holes someplace
0:28:30 > 0:28:34SIRENS WAIL OVER CHORAL MUSIC
0:28:39 > 0:28:44By the mid '60s, cars were killing 60,000 people a year in America
0:28:44 > 0:28:48In Britain, someone died on the roads every hour.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54The politicians were beginning to lose patience with the manufacturers,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57so General Motors contracted Wayne State University
0:28:57 > 0:29:01to do more research into how the whole body was injured in crashes.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05So began another series of gruesome experiments on the dead.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17We studied impact to the head, to the chest, to the knees,
0:29:17 > 0:29:22any part of the body that could be injured in the automobile.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31As Larry and his team were now looking at not just head injuries,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33but the entire human body, they had to make sure
0:29:33 > 0:29:36the results from the cadaver experiments
0:29:36 > 0:29:41were giving an accurate picture of what a living human could tolerate,
0:29:41 > 0:29:44and for that they needed volunteers.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46I was the volunteer.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49It was a matter of, I was in charge of the lab
0:29:49 > 0:29:53and if anybody got hurt, I was responsible.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56I figured if I hurt myself, that was one thing,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59but I didn't want to take a chance on hurting anyone else.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04Felt like being hit in the chest with a sledgehammer.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08It actually knocks me over backwards quite a ways.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17Over the next few years, Larry continued to study the biomechanics
0:30:17 > 0:30:21of the human body, usually involving experiments on himself.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27Well, it was his work,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30but of course there's always the danger of something happening to him
0:30:30 > 0:30:33which I was not comfortable with,
0:30:33 > 0:30:38but that was his affair.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40She was... She's mellowed a lot now.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43It was much more intense at the time.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45SHE LAUGHS Yes.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53By the time Larry Patrick had finished self-experimenting
0:30:53 > 0:30:56he'd provided us with a detailed picture
0:30:56 > 0:30:59of what kind of forces caused injury.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01The tolerance and limitations of the human body
0:31:01 > 0:31:04had finally been revealed.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07For the first time, scientists could attach some meaning
0:31:07 > 0:31:11to the forces that crash test dummies measured.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14If they exceeded the Wayne State human tolerance curve,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17it meant the force could be fatal.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20And, armed with this new knowledge, more and more engineers
0:31:20 > 0:31:25embarked on developing ways to guarantee protection in an accident.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31Across the world, engineers churned out life-saving equipment
0:31:31 > 0:31:34that could help improve the chances of surviving
0:31:34 > 0:31:38the killer secondary impact. However, it became clear
0:31:38 > 0:31:42that ingenuity and good design wasn't enough.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45The biggest challenge would be persuading manufacturers
0:31:45 > 0:31:47to install them and people to use them,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51and tragically, the longest and most bitter struggle
0:31:51 > 0:31:55centred around the application of the greatest life-saver of them all.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01Six, five, four,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04three, two, one, go!
0:32:06 > 0:32:09The modern seat belt was invented by Volvo
0:32:09 > 0:32:12and first fitted to their cars in 1959.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16But, for several years, few other manufacturers offered
0:32:16 > 0:32:19the crucial combination of lap and chest restraint.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24Many cars were still just fitted
0:32:24 > 0:32:26with a two-point belt across the lap.
0:32:26 > 0:32:32We saw in the accidents where two-point belts were used
0:32:32 > 0:32:36that there was still a high risk of impact on the occupant
0:32:36 > 0:32:41towards dashboard, for example by the head or chest area,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45and the only solution to that problem
0:32:45 > 0:32:49was to add also a shoulder portion of the belt system,
0:32:49 > 0:32:56and since the shoulder belt is lying on rigid parts like the rib cage,
0:32:56 > 0:33:01we felt very confident that there was no risk introduced with this system.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11It was THE greatest advance in making crashes more survivable,
0:33:11 > 0:33:15but although Volvo embraced three-point seat belts,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19the rest of the industry was reluctant to install them.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23The majority of the public didn t know what they were missing,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26so with little consumer or political pressure,
0:33:26 > 0:33:30manufacturers ignored a life-saving opportunity.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Then in the mid '60s, an idealistic lawyer in America
0:33:34 > 0:33:38began sifting through reports on unused safety features.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41His anger would spark off a chain of events
0:33:41 > 0:33:45which would change car safety forever.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48As a law student at Harvard Law School, I came across
0:33:48 > 0:33:52some of the research writings, and I was stunned.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56I realised that there were a lot of life-saving safety devices
0:33:56 > 0:33:59on the shelf in Detroit that engineers had built
0:33:59 > 0:34:03and innovated over the years, like seat belts, like head restraints,
0:34:03 > 0:34:05that were never put in cars. And I began to ask why.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09Why were they selling style and they weren't selling safety
0:34:12 > 0:34:15In 1966, after Ralph Nader published a bestseller
0:34:15 > 0:34:19on the dangers of American cars he was called to the Senate
0:34:19 > 0:34:23to testify at a special hearing into deaths on the roads.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27General Motors were one of his main targets, and the car giant responded
0:34:27 > 0:34:32by hiring a private detective to dig up dirt on this unknown young lawyer.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35But their attempt to discredit Nader backfired.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37The detective was exposed
0:34:37 > 0:34:41and the president of General Motors was called in to explain.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43I want to apologise here and now
0:34:43 > 0:34:47to the members of this sub-committee and Mr Nader.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50I personally have no interest whatsoever in knowing
0:34:50 > 0:34:55Mr Nader's political beliefs, his religious beliefs and attitudes
0:34:55 > 0:34:58his credit rating, or his personal habits
0:34:58 > 0:35:02regarding sex, alcohol or any other subject.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06It was a great news story and the publicity made Ralph Nader
0:35:06 > 0:35:10a national hero whose words now carried great weight.
0:35:12 > 0:35:17Many, many safety features sometimes cost only pennies more
0:35:17 > 0:35:18and many times cost less.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20A couple of examples,
0:35:20 > 0:35:24this collapsible steering shaft by GM costs them no more
0:35:24 > 0:35:29once they retool for it than their other type of steering shaft.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33The safer instrument panels, and instrument panels today are killing
0:35:33 > 0:35:37between 5,000 and 8,000 people by being struck against them,
0:35:37 > 0:35:41a safer instrument panel is actually cheaper to manufacture.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44It provided a lot of public attention
0:35:44 > 0:35:47and force behind the passage of the first
0:35:47 > 0:35:51comprehensive motor vehicle safety law in American history
0:35:53 > 0:35:57Surviving the secondary impact was no longer an impossible dream
0:35:57 > 0:36:01and instead of being some kind of industry secret,
0:36:01 > 0:36:03it had now become public knowledge.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13From January 1967, cars had to meet 22 new safety standards,
0:36:13 > 0:36:16covering everything from the steering column
0:36:16 > 0:36:18to the rear view mirror,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21and front seat belts now had to be fitted by law.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30Europe soon followed with similar crash protection standards
0:36:30 > 0:36:33and, in the early '70s, for the first time,
0:36:33 > 0:36:35deaths on the road started to fall.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48But the public seemed determined to undermine the engineers.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50They just wouldn't wear their seat belts.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54There were all sorts of myths out there.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57"I'd rather be thrown clear in a crash
0:36:57 > 0:36:59"than wear a seat belt that will tie me in."
0:36:59 > 0:37:01People thought that you might get a broken neck
0:37:01 > 0:37:03if you're wearing a seat belt.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06"If the car goes into water, I'll drown
0:37:06 > 0:37:07"because I won't be able to get out."
0:37:07 > 0:37:09People thought that if they had a crash,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12cars go on fire all the time and you wouldn't be able to get out.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15And today it just seems ludicrous
0:37:15 > 0:37:17that people would be thinking that way,
0:37:17 > 0:37:21but we're talking 35-40 years ago. That was the thought.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24There were all sorts of scare stories around like that
0:37:24 > 0:37:26which probably had enough influence
0:37:26 > 0:37:30to delay people really thinking about it rationally
0:37:30 > 0:37:33and using the research knowledge that was coming along
0:37:33 > 0:37:35as early as they should have done.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44So, although the battle against manufacturers had been won,
0:37:44 > 0:37:48now the fight was about getting people to use the very things
0:37:48 > 0:37:51that could save their lives.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53It was particularly tricky in America,
0:37:53 > 0:37:57where they felt that making seat belt wearing compulsory
0:37:57 > 0:37:59would be an infringement on personal freedoms.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Reliable crash protection can't depend on human cooperation.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08It has to be built into the car
0:38:08 > 0:38:11and it has to work when it's needed, automatically
0:38:12 > 0:38:17So, engineers went back to the drawing board to develop a device
0:38:17 > 0:38:21that could save people who didn't want to save themselves.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23The air bag.
0:38:24 > 0:38:31The air bag is a revolutionary concept in passenger protection
0:38:31 > 0:38:35and requires a very complex system to be installed in the automobile.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39We have several components. First, a high pressure gas cylinder,
0:38:39 > 0:38:44which is basically the energy source for inflating the air bag.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47The gas is then distributed to the air bag
0:38:47 > 0:38:50through the slots in the manifold.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52The air bag is rolled around the manifold
0:38:52 > 0:38:55and located underneath the instrument panel
0:38:55 > 0:38:58and behind the instrument panel
0:38:58 > 0:39:01And, as you can see from the size of the air bag,
0:39:01 > 0:39:05it's large enough to protect the front two occupants.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09In order for the air bag to be effective,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12we must inflate the air bag in one-twentieth of a second.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19In the early days, there were many problems to overcome.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23They had to fill with gas at the instant of impact.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28Sometimes they used too much explosive,
0:39:28 > 0:39:30and the air bag blew apart.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34Or it was too large to inflate properly.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38Eventually, they perfected the art of explosive inflation
0:39:45 > 0:39:47Humans were also tested
0:39:47 > 0:39:50to ensure they could withstand the explosion without hearing loss.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59Once the air bag was refined,
0:39:59 > 0:40:03this was one design manufacturers were prepared to install,
0:40:03 > 0:40:07and from 1980, they became more and more commonplace.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12However, most safety experts knew
0:40:12 > 0:40:15that although air bags improved survivability,
0:40:15 > 0:40:18they would never surpass the life-saving capabilities
0:40:18 > 0:40:19of the seat belt.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27And, in this country, eventually the penny dropped for the public too.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31A powerful catalyst were those grim pictures
0:40:31 > 0:40:36of Alex Blackhall's needless death broadcast on the BBC in 1981.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39His wife, or rather his widow,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42has consented to these scenes being shown.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44They might, she hoped, do some good.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50The programme intensified the debate about compulsory seat belts.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52Public opinion started to shift
0:40:52 > 0:40:56and, in 1983, wearing front seat belts
0:40:56 > 0:40:58finally became a legal requirement.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04During this morning's rush hour in London,
0:41:04 > 0:41:07the vast majority of drivers and front seat passengers
0:41:07 > 0:41:09were securely fastened.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13It seems the fear of prosecution was a greater incentive to belt up
0:41:13 > 0:41:16than all those previous seat belt campaigns
0:41:16 > 0:41:18with their appeals to reason.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20Good morning, I see you're wearing your seat belt today.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22That's correct, yes. Is this simply because of the law?
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Indeed, I've never worn it before. I prefer to be free when I'm driving,
0:41:26 > 0:41:30but I'm aware that the law want me to enforce things today
0:41:30 > 0:41:31so that's why I'm wearing it.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36The effect was dramatic.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41Instead of falling gradually, road fatalities started to plummet.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47And a second big drop was witnessed eight years later,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50after the rear seat belt law came into force.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55The annual fatality figures fell to an all-time low of around 4,000
0:42:03 > 0:42:07By the late 1980s, huge strides had been made
0:42:07 > 0:42:09in making crashes more survivable,
0:42:09 > 0:42:12but another problem was becoming apparent.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15Scientists realised that in any collision,
0:42:15 > 0:42:17there was actually a third impact,
0:42:17 > 0:42:21and this was the most complex and least understood stage of the crash,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24because it happens inside the body,
0:42:24 > 0:42:26which is why it became known as the hidden killer.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32ALARM BEEPS
0:42:34 > 0:42:37The third impact comes when your body stops moving
0:42:37 > 0:42:39but your insides don't.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44Just as you might hit the inside of the car,
0:42:44 > 0:42:46your organs will collide with your skeleton.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52But without the ability to see inside a living person
0:42:52 > 0:42:53in crash conditions,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56scientists knew little about the internal consequences.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02That was until the 1980s, when medical research stepped in
0:43:02 > 0:43:06and revealed something that would completely transform your chances
0:43:06 > 0:43:08of surviving a crash.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27One, two, three.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30We have, approximately - we'll say 25-year-old female,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33this is a motor vehicle accident, car versus ditch.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37By the early '80s, the nature of head injuries was changing.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40Air bags and seat belts had cut down skull fractures,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42but one form of lethal injury
0:43:42 > 0:43:45was being replaced by something more mysterious.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48..I would say that's probably been 30 minutes ago.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52Accident victims were still dying in comas,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55but now nothing was showing up on the brain scans.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57Initially we were very depressed,
0:43:57 > 0:43:59because we knew the brain is injured
0:43:59 > 0:44:02and when we went out to talk to families about this,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05we'd say your son is in a coma
0:44:05 > 0:44:08he has bad brain injury,
0:44:08 > 0:44:11and the families would say, "Well, what is the injury?"
0:44:11 > 0:44:13And we would look at one another and say,
0:44:13 > 0:44:17"Well, we don't exactly know, but we know the brain is badly injured,"
0:44:17 > 0:44:20and we'd look on the CAT scans and, and find virtually nothing,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23sometimes a little drop of blood, but hardly anything.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29At their laboratories in Philadelphia, Dr Gennarelli's team
0:44:29 > 0:44:32decided the only way to understand this invisible killer
0:44:32 > 0:44:35was to reproduce the injury in an animal.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39In the early '80s, they performed a series of experiments on monkeys.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43This was the price to be paid for understanding head injuries
0:44:43 > 0:44:45but the experiments sparked fierce protests
0:44:45 > 0:44:48from animal rights activists.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51The research's aim was to put a baboon in coma.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54The system that we were using that produced the injury was
0:44:54 > 0:44:56the animal head was never impacted.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59It was encased in a helmet.
0:44:59 > 0:45:00The helmet was attached to a linkage
0:45:00 > 0:45:04and the linkage was programmed to move at a certain velocity
0:45:04 > 0:45:07over a short distance so there was no loading of the neck,
0:45:07 > 0:45:10but we could rotate the head in different directions
0:45:10 > 0:45:11at different velocities.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16They discovered that no kind of forward movement
0:45:16 > 0:45:21ever resulted in coma, but shaking the head sideways
0:45:21 > 0:45:23produced dramatically different results.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27As soon as we produced a rotation in the lateral direction,
0:45:27 > 0:45:29the animal was in coma.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33That first animal, we studied for six weeks in coma.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37No-one had ever produced coma in an animal model.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40The brain is made of two hemispheres
0:45:40 > 0:45:43connected by nerve axons which run between them.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47Slamming the head sideways pulls one hemisphere away from the other,
0:45:47 > 0:45:50dangerously stretching those axons.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53What we've got here are some axons.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55They look pretty bad.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58When they looked at the nodes from this section of the brain
0:45:58 > 0:45:59under the microscope,
0:45:59 > 0:46:03they had expected to find the axons stretched to breaking point,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06and severed nerves meant permanent brain damage or death
0:46:09 > 0:46:12Then a great revelation took place.
0:46:12 > 0:46:19People had the notion that at the instant of an impact to the head,
0:46:19 > 0:46:24there was a damage resulting from tearing of neurological material.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29And what we knew at that time about central nervous system tissue,
0:46:29 > 0:46:34that was irreversible, that that was final.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38Instead, what we found, I think to the surprise of many
0:46:38 > 0:46:42was that the axons were indeed stretched, but they weren't torn.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47The stretching seemed to make the nerve axons slowly swell up
0:46:47 > 0:46:50and balloon out, eventually destroying themselves
0:46:50 > 0:46:54in a gradual process that only started hours after the impact.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59Suddenly there was an extraordinary medical possibility.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02If most of the damage happened hours after the crash,
0:47:02 > 0:47:06then perhaps drugs could be developed to stop the nerves swelling
0:47:06 > 0:47:08in time to save thousands of lives.
0:47:08 > 0:47:13We now know something that is very precious that we didn't know before.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16We thought there was no influence that we could possibly have,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19no treatment, no therapy, no surgery that would influence this
0:47:19 > 0:47:21because it was all completed,
0:47:21 > 0:47:23and now we know that that's not true,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26that the degeneration in the brain is progressive.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34It was a truly ground-breaking discovery.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37It meant that as long as patients received expert treatment
0:47:37 > 0:47:39before their brains started swelling,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42coma and death could be avoided
0:47:45 > 0:47:47So, today, surgeons are working hard
0:47:47 > 0:47:51developing ways to get to their patients as quickly as possible
0:47:51 > 0:47:55so they can protect the brain and salvage neurons.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02For trauma medics dealing with car crash victims
0:48:02 > 0:48:06with suspected brain injury, speed is now everything.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09Here in Miami, two helicopter units
0:48:09 > 0:48:12are on constant readiness for action.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14They can be scrambled in an instant
0:48:14 > 0:48:17and recover a patient within minutes.
0:48:17 > 0:48:18Their destination?
0:48:18 > 0:48:20Jackson Memorial Hospital,
0:48:20 > 0:48:24where trauma medicine is undergoing some radical changes.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37What's the story? He was involved in a motor vehicle accident,
0:48:37 > 0:48:42he was unrestrained, hit the windshield, major intrusion.
0:48:42 > 0:48:43Head injury.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49This is trauma medicine as you might never have seen it before.
0:48:49 > 0:48:50Going into room two.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52To speed up diagnosis and treatment,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56this new technology is being trialled here for the first time.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00What's your name, sir?
0:49:00 > 0:49:01Javier...
0:49:01 > 0:49:02Javier? Yeah.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04What happened to you, Javier?
0:49:04 > 0:49:06This is advanced telemedicine.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10For medics dealing with time-critical injuries,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13this robot brings rapid advice from afar.
0:49:16 > 0:49:17From a remote location,
0:49:17 > 0:49:22Dr Antonio Marttos controls the robot bearing his image.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24How are the vital signs right now?
0:49:24 > 0:49:26He is able to communicate directly with the team
0:49:26 > 0:49:28at work in the trauma unit.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31OK, got to see his head right now.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33By controlling cameras on the robot,
0:49:33 > 0:49:35Dr Marttos can make a rapid diagnosis
0:49:35 > 0:49:38and talk the resuscitation team through advanced procedures
0:49:38 > 0:49:41which might be needed straightaway.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45He has a bad laceration, probably has a really bad head trauma.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48Yeah, this is really bad, OK.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Providing fast expert treatment like this for car crash victims
0:49:53 > 0:49:56will save time and lives.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01But today there's a surprise in store.
0:50:01 > 0:50:06This car crash victim is making a remarkable recovery,
0:50:06 > 0:50:08and not because of the ground-breaking
0:50:08 > 0:50:10telemedicine technology.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13LAUGHTER
0:50:16 > 0:50:20This is an important training exercise for the hospital.
0:50:20 > 0:50:21With great attention to detail
0:50:21 > 0:50:24the medics have used a typical car crash scenario
0:50:24 > 0:50:29to test the effectiveness of this new telemedicine system
0:50:29 > 0:50:32I can really support the physician or the nurse
0:50:32 > 0:50:35from long distance
0:50:35 > 0:50:38and help them to have the best expertise available always.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40Doctors hope this telemedicine project
0:50:40 > 0:50:43will begin a new era in trauma medicine.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48It could forever improve your chance of surviving brain injury
0:50:48 > 0:50:50in a future car accident.
0:50:56 > 0:51:00Understanding and controlling the outcome of any third impact
0:51:00 > 0:51:05inside the head has come on in leaps and bounds since the 1 80s.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09A huge achievement, considering it was once the hidden killer.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15Scientists and doctors and engineers have all been instrumental
0:51:15 > 0:51:17in helping make our roads safer
0:51:17 > 0:51:20and improving our chances of surviving a crash,
0:51:20 > 0:51:24but we're still stuck at around 2,000 fatalities a year,
0:51:24 > 0:51:28which got me thinking, what else can we do to save lives?
0:51:28 > 0:51:32And it seems, increasingly, the answer may lie with computers.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42Today, cadaver and animal research
0:51:42 > 0:51:46can be time-consuming and controversial,
0:51:46 > 0:51:48and traditional crash test dummies
0:51:48 > 0:51:50aren't good at replicating internal injuries.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56So scientists have been developing a new type of virtual dummy
0:51:56 > 0:51:59which will tell us what happens to all of the vital organs
0:51:59 > 0:52:02inside the body during all types of car crashes
0:52:10 > 0:52:13It is a monumental task,
0:52:13 > 0:52:17the biggest coordinated research effort in car safety history.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20And it starts with the human body itself.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25What makes this project so special
0:52:25 > 0:52:27is the unprecedented attention to detail.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Beginning with individual cells in the body
0:52:32 > 0:52:34and working upwards from there
0:52:34 > 0:52:38scientists in labs worldwide are working out the maximum force
0:52:38 > 0:52:42that every part of the body can take before irreparable damage occurs.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46Here, they're studying the abdomen.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52I'm using a template
0:52:52 > 0:52:56to position pressure sensors that will be placed inside the liver
0:52:56 > 0:52:58so that we can measure internal liver pressure.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03This type of testing isn't just limited to the liver.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05We do this type of thing
0:53:05 > 0:53:07for all the internal organs of the body,
0:53:07 > 0:53:11specifically the solid organs, so we look at liver, spleen, kidney,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14any of those organs in order to determine its tolerance to loading.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23By gathering such detailed information about the forces
0:53:23 > 0:53:26that every single part of the body can withstand,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29scientists will be able to update existing dummies
0:53:29 > 0:53:30with a brand-new model.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35But it will be a dummy with a difference.
0:53:37 > 0:53:38A virtual dummy.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43The human body model.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47There are a number of reasons to go toward that type of model
0:53:47 > 0:53:49as opposed to the physical model.
0:53:49 > 0:53:54In the virtual world, we can do a lot more for a lot less.
0:53:54 > 0:53:59It's hoped that virtual dummies will revolutionise car safety.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01They will be able to predict
0:54:01 > 0:54:03the exact moment crash forces become too much
0:54:03 > 0:54:05for people to cope with.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09Virtual models of the human body
0:54:09 > 0:54:12hold the promise of truly understanding what happens
0:54:12 > 0:54:14inside our bodies during car crashes.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20But computers aren't just helping us
0:54:20 > 0:54:22understand the consequences of a crash.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26For over a decade there's been a growing hope
0:54:26 > 0:54:29that they could also prevent accidents from happening
0:54:29 > 0:54:33in the first place, tackling the age-old problem of human error
0:54:36 > 0:54:37In the future,
0:54:37 > 0:54:41perhaps drivers will be able to put their cars on autopilot
0:54:41 > 0:54:43and let computers take the strain.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50This row of cars in California are all travelling at 60mph,
0:54:50 > 0:54:54exactly 21 feet apart, under computer control.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01A ride on this automated highway
0:55:01 > 0:55:05begins when the car takes over from the human.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08AUTOPILOT: Speed control on.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11Steering control on.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13Foot off the pedal,
0:55:13 > 0:55:15hands off the wheel,
0:55:15 > 0:55:17and the ride begins.
0:55:17 > 0:55:18Part of what we're doing
0:55:18 > 0:55:21is trying a whole bunch of different technologies.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23Some of these systems rely on computer vision,
0:55:23 > 0:55:27some of them rely on magnets buried in the road,
0:55:27 > 0:55:31some of them rely on special lane marking strips that reflect radar.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37Magnets in the centre of the road enable the car to track a course,
0:55:37 > 0:55:39and automatically adjust the steering control.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46Radar screens on the front and back of each vehicle
0:55:46 > 0:55:48maintain a safe distance between the cars.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56If something unexpected happens like a breakdown,
0:55:56 > 0:56:00the automated truck detects the car ahead with plenty of time
0:56:00 > 0:56:01to change lanes.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08Since 1998, many of these computer systems
0:56:08 > 0:56:12have already made their way into our cars,
0:56:12 > 0:56:14like proximity sensors
0:56:14 > 0:56:17and automatic braking systems.
0:56:19 > 0:56:24All of them work to help the driver avoid crashes,
0:56:24 > 0:56:29and the fully autonomous car may not be too far off.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31Several different driverless car systems
0:56:31 > 0:56:33are now being tested on public roads.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41Some engineers feel sure that by taking humans out of the equation
0:56:41 > 0:56:44and completely handing over the controls to a computer
0:56:44 > 0:56:46the crash rate will decrease even further.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52But I can't help feeling that once again it may be the consumer
0:56:52 > 0:56:55that proves the biggest barrier to the driverless car.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09It is just astonishing how far we've come in making road travel safer.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13Scientists and engineers have worked exceptionally hard to save lives,
0:57:13 > 0:57:15but what I find extraordinary
0:57:15 > 0:57:18is that those scientists were also campaigners,
0:57:18 > 0:57:21fighting to have their inventions and their knowledge
0:57:21 > 0:57:22applied to the real world,
0:57:22 > 0:57:27when manufacturers, politicians and ultimately us, the general public,
0:57:27 > 0:57:32remained strangely, well, resistant to having our lives saved.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37# I don't wanna die
0:57:37 > 0:57:41# In a car crash with you
0:57:41 > 0:57:47# Tonight
0:57:50 > 0:57:51# The roads are wet
0:57:51 > 0:57:56# And you're asleep at the wheel
0:57:56 > 0:58:00# Open your eyes
0:58:00 > 0:58:03# Open your eyes. #
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd