I'm with Frank on this one.
Here's one big thing I didn't notice anyone acknowledging about car weight vs. safety:
Extra weight makes a difference in a head-on collision between two cars. That's just physics.
HOWEVER
Only 10% of fatal accidents are head-on collisions!
Which means 90% of fatal accidents ARE NOT head-on collisions.
In rear and side impact collisions, striking solid inanimate objects, and roll overs, weight does not change the outcome appreciably, if at all.
Why, then, is frontal impact testing the standard by which "safety" is measured?
For that matter, why is impact testing the standard for safety in the first place?
Wouldn't not getting into an accident in the first place be even better than surviving one?
Why isn't braking distance considered as a factor in determining safety? If it were, light cars would have the advantage.
In the same time that airbags were mandated, so were anti-lock brakes. Cars with side-curtain airbags often have traction control. Perhaps this has as much to do with the reduction in traffic fatalities?
I haven't looked at the numbers, so I'm not sure, but over the time that fatalities per mile have dropped, has the accident rate per mile dropped as well? If so, then safety features like airbags and crumple zones wouldn't account for it as much as measures to reduce accidents from occurring (better traffic control devices, for example, or anti-drunk driving ads plus better enforcement - about a third of fatal crashes involve alcohol, down from 2/3s in the 60s)
Someone on this forum once suggested that the best way to decrease traffic accidents was to put a big steel spike in the middle of the steering wheel pointing at the driver.
About 90% of traffic accidents are due to driver error, so I think whoever suggested that was on to something.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Piwoslaw
A few months ago I returned home just as my neighbor pulled into his driveway. It was cold (around freezing) with some rain and sleet, and he yells to me: You rode your bike? In this weather?!?
So the other day we both returned home at the same time again, only now the weather is warm, sunny, with no wind. And I yell to him: You took the car? In this weather?!?
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Last edited by JacobAziza; 11-17-2010 at 12:39 PM..
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