
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 4, 1990                   TAG: 9005040188
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FUEL EFFICIENCY LINKED TO RISE IN TRAFFIC DEATHS

Highway deaths are certain to rise if automakers are forced to significantly improve fuel efficiency by the end of the decade, the government's top traffic safety official said Thursday.

"Injuries will be more severe; deaths will increase" because automakers would be forced to build smaller cars, said Jerry R. Curry, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In a speech to the Society of Automotive Engineers, Curry criticized "special interest groups that want to become the high priests" of gasoline mileage standards, which his agency sets.

Under current law, new fleets - all the cars an automaker produces in one model year - must have an overall average of 27.5 miles per gallon. That means some models may fall short of the minimum if others exceed it. For light trucks, the minimum is 20 mpg.

A bill in the Senate would require automakers to improve their fleet averages 20 percent by the 1995 model year and 40 percent by 2001. The minimum for the typical fleet would rise to 34.4 mpg in 1995 and 40.2 mpg by 2001. - Associated Press

by CNB