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Old 05-08-2011, 11:43 PM   #64 (permalink)
mcguire
EcoModding Lurker
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Scottsboro, AL
Posts: 19

Twuck - '06 Ford F-150
90 day: 17.82 mpg (US)

Rudolph - '95 BMW R1100 GS
90 day: 35.37 mpg (US)

Terrifying - '02 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe
90 day: 28.4 mpg (US)

Big Red - '13 Ford F-150 XLT
90 day: 18.96 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf View Post
Strange that so many people avoided dying while driving those "paper-thin deathtraps" built in the '50s & '60s, then. Not to mention that they were running on bias-ply tires and often using drum brakes, too.
1960 transportation fatalities, Highway total: 36,399 (Bureau of Transportation Statistics)
1960 population: 179,323,175 (Wikipedia)
1960 registered vehicles: 73,858 (infoplease.com, US Dept. of Transportation)
1960 vehicle miles traveled: 719,000 (infoplease.com)
1960 fatalities per billion miles: 50 (infoplease.com)
1960 average miles per gallon: 12.4 (infoplease.com)

2000 transportation fatalities: 41,945
2000 population: 281,421,906
2000 registered vehicles: 225,821
2000 vehicle miles traveled: 2,749,803 (About 60% passenger car; 1960 about 80% passenger car)
2000 fatalities per billion miles: 15
2000 average miles per gallon: 16.9 (Yikes. Passenger car: 22)

Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf View Post
Or for real irony, consider how many people use their big, safe (supposedly) SUVs & pickups to haul their quads & dirt bikes out to the country where they race around like maniacs. Or the ones which advertise sports like extreme skiing/snowboarding. So the upshot is that you must drive what is in perception an extremely safe vehicle to someplace where you will risk life & limb. (To say nothing of the added dangers of cell phones, in-vehicle infotainment, etc.) Excuse me if the logic escapes me :-)
Actually, as I recall, most of the "extreme sports" are very safe. You want a dangerous sport, try horseback riding.

Yours desperately in need of a research librarian,

(Edit: I originally had "fatalities per 1000 miles", which is really not reasonable. I just checked and infoplease's table is scaled by 1,000,000. Sorry.)

Last edited by mcguire; 05-11-2011 at 11:36 AM.. Reason: Very drastically incorrect statistics
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