Taking the bull by the horns

Motoring editor ALASTAIR SLOANE explains Australia's new bull bar laws and what effect they will have in New Zealand.

The item in the Good Oil said: "New laws in Australia next year may spell the end of the traditional bull bar, the heavy-duty protection fitted to the front of vehicles. Supporters say bull bars protect the vehicle's radiator and headlights from damage when it hits an animal such as a kangaroo. Opponents see bull bars as weapons against everything else on the road and cite surveys that say they are involved in up to 20 per cent of annual pedestrian fatalities. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau says about 90 people - pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, drivers and passengers - die in collisions with bull bar-equipped vehicles each year.

"Says author Allan 'Uteman' Nixon: 'It's a cult thing and I do think some people have gone a bit too far. It's gone from being a useful tool for country driving to a statement."'

The phone calls and e-mails flooded in. Callers mostly said the piece was wrong. Bull bars weren't going to be banned under new legislation. Readers deserved to be better informed.

The e-mails went further. Some were curt, others polite, measured, detailed. Said one: "The item obviously came from a press release from the Pedestrian Council of Australia. Its research is seriously flawed - perhaps you would like to correct the erroneous impression you gave readers." The e-mail contained quotes from Australian politicians pledging their support for bull bars.

Each phone call and e-mail contained the same theme: bull bars are not going to be banned under new legislation; opponents' criticism of bull bars is faulty.

The protests were not random objections. They were orchestrated by lobbyists for the bull bar industry, a multimillion-dollar business about to be regulated in Australia and New Zealand by a design standard.

The Federal Government in Australia will next year introduce a law governing vehicle frontal protection systems, popularly known as bull bars, 'roo bars, or nudge bars.

There are already guidelines in place - such as the banning of non-certified bull bars on vehicles made after 1996 - but some current designs will be outlawed as a result of the new laws.

The legislation is expected to ban sharp-edged bull bars as well as add-ons such as fishing-rod holders, CB radio aerials or clamps for spotlights.

It is likely to use as a guideline a federal report which concluded that there was no basis for opposing the use of modern, approved bullbars - but significant reason for phasing out older-style rigid designs.

The new law will basically say, according to reports, that a vehicle can be fitted only with a bull bar that has been certified by the vehicle manufacturer or has been demonstrated as suitable by a bull bar manufacturer.

Owners ignoring the new standard could be charged with driving a defective vehicle.

The Land Transport Safety Authority says it is keeping an eye on developments in Australia and will take into account the measures put in place by the Federal Government.

"Of course we will have to look at that in relation to the situation in New Zealand," says spokesman Craig Dowling. "But Australia has done all the research into bull bars and we are looking there for a lead on this."

The pending legislation has polarised opinion. Supporters on both sides of the Tasman say bull bars save lives and help to prevent damage to a vehicle's headlights and radiator when it hits an animal. This is more likely in Australia, where there are an estimated 20,000 kangaroo/vehicle collisions each year.

Opponents say bull bars serve little purpose, are intrusive in a collision with another vehicle, contribute to pedestrian deaths and are little more than a fashion item in cities.

Even the most ardent supporters of bull bars question their usefulness in cities.

A study done in 1998 by the University of Adelaide found that the damage to a child's head when struck by a Toyota Prado equipped with a small-diameter steel bull bar was 10 to 15 times worse than the damage inflicted without one.

"In practical terms, a pedestrian hit by a vehicle equipped with a steel bull bar will be seriously hurt or killed at speeds much lower than those that are usually fatal," the report concluded.

But another Australian survey found that many of the people who died in collisions with bull bar-equipped vehicles would have died regardless of the presence of a bull bar because of the severity of the accident.

Yet another said that pedestrians knocked down and killed by bull bar-equipped vehicles had a unique injury profile.

"While having the same high levels of head injury as pedestrians killed in non-bull bar impacts, they are more likely to sustain severe abdominal and chest injury as well," it said.

Holden safety expert Laurie Sparke helped to develop a bull bar, or 'roo bar, for the Commodore sedan. He says it is the only one designed from the outset to be compatible with the car's airbag system.

But the bull bar industry says modern bull bars do not affect the crash pulse of a vehicle and therefore do not affect airbag triggering systems.

The 'roo bar for the Commodore was the result of what Sparke calls "the most extensive research study ever into the uniquely Australian problem of kangaroo strike.

"The challenge was to come up with a protective device that did not represent an unacceptable pedestrian hazard, did not compromise vehicle crash performance and did not confuse the airbag sensor."

Sparke used a dummy kangaroo called "Robo-roo." It weighed 59kg and spent its life being run over by a Holden before being scrapped.

He built another one, Robo-roo II. It is being regularly run over, too.