Abstract
Motor vehicles were invented in Europe over 110 years ago. Subsequently their mass production system was established in the United States to eventually transform vehicles into an everyday-use commodity of people. The greatest appeal of motor vehicles lies in its convenience of free and comfortable locomotion to any desired place. The freedom of locomotion has remarkably expanded as new roads were built.
Today, industrial countries mass-produce and distribute motor vehicles on a global scale.
Through the use of advanced technologies and other corporate resources, vehicle prices have been reduced so that most working people in industrial nations now can own a car. As a result, people have come to put vehicles to widely varied uses, prompting manufacturers to develop varied types of vehicles to suit diverse applications.
While the widespread ownership of motor vehicles enriched lifestyles, at the same time it has brought adverse effects in the areas of traffic safety and environmental preservation. Today, our society confronts a number of vehicle-related problems, including an increase in traffic accidents, air pollution, noise generation and fuel consumption. One way to reduce traffic accidents is to improve vehicles. Nevertheless, it will be more effective and socially desirable to add two more approaches--to provide public education on traffic safety and to enhance road infrastructures and traffic facilities. These measures can be mixed in a balanced manner. Although air pollution, noise generation and fuel consumption have environmental aspects requiring global efforts for solution, current efforts to deal with automobile issues in both safety and environmental areas are confined in national boundaries. Due to the different socio-economic conditions of each country, nations have established unique safety and environmental regulations of their own.