May 10, 2002	Friday	Safar 26, 1423

LONDON, May 10: Energy-absorbing bumpers, pop-up engine covers and windscreen air bags could soon be added to cars to protect millions of pedestrians involved in accidents each year, scientists said on Friday.

Although more than a third of the 10 million people injured and 1.2 million killed in road accidents worldwide each year are pedestrians, little has been done to improve their safety.

But researchers at the University of Virginia said cars in the future could become safer for pedestrians when new features are introduced.

“Car manufacturers are already working on all of these measures and incorporating them into their designs. In the near future cars on the market will have them,” Kavi Bhalla, a research scientist in pedestrian safety at the University of Virginia, said in a telephone interview.

Automobile makers in Europe are supporting a voluntary agreement to include the new safety measures, which are described in the British Medical Journal, in their vehicles over the next decade.

“We hope that once Europe adopts these regulations that the United States will consider them,” Bhalla added.

Most pedestrians are hit by the front of the vehicle and suffer injuries to the head and lower parts of the body. Head injuries are the leading cause of death.

Pop-up hoods activated by sensors could provide a softer landing space for people hit by cars and air bags on the outside of the car would prevent them from hitting the windscreen.—Reuters