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Old 03-11-2012, 02:59 PM   #36 (permalink)
jamesqf
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5 View Post
The argument that one needs to drive a bigger vehicle than anyone else for safety reasons, bothers me. Usually the person that feels they need extra safety is a bad driver (not implying you are) and they put others at greater risk by hurling extra mass down the freeway. Everyone trying to drive bigger cars than everyone else is a rat race that nobody wins.
Not only that, the argument that big vehicles - and particularly 3/4 and 1 ton pickups - are safer just doesn't stand up to real-world data. See the attached graph, from Wenzel & Ross, which shows that a 1 ton Dodge Ram is about 3 times more likely to kill its driver in a crash than a Toyota Camry, and about 10 times more likely to kill the driver of another vehicle.

You may feel safer in a big vehicle, but that safety is an illusion.
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