[Arragonis]

Just coming back to some of the comments on the original contrast between the Mini and the MINI (aka BINI).

A lot of them focus on the new car being much safer - which it is. The designer of the original Mini (and my online "nickname" namesake) had a very stark view of driving safety. He thought cars should be primarily safe due to good handling - understeer, lift off = tuck in etc.

He didn't believe too much in secondary safety such as cages, seat belts or air bags - his solution was to make drivers more safety concious, he even suggesting (not perhaps totally seriously) fitting a line of carving knives on the dashboard so that drivers could appreciate the risks.

OK he was joking but the debate is still open - hoe much should people driving be more responsible for their own safety by taking more care versus the idea that every car should be an armoured metal cage ready to engage in wrestling type moves with every other one.

If we all drove cars with razor edged dashboards, thin metal doors, no monocoque, no air bags, nothing at all to protect us - in fact welcome to the 1940s (or if in America the 1960s) - then maybe we would drive safe too.

That tapped authorities in both the US and UK felt that road safety and manners had deteriorated so much in the late 30s that they made films on how to behave on the road. The Internet archive has loads of them (mainly US, some rest of world).