Quote:
Originally Posted by ConnClark
Small and light will never be safe. Its just a matter of physics.
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Sorry, you got that backwards.
According to "an object in motion tends to stay in motion", the more massive (heavier) an object is, the more inertia it has, and the harder it is to stop once it is going.
If you hit a tree or something else that isn't going to move anyways, a less massive object will stop quicker than a more massive object.
"Safe", in terms of ability to dissapate energy is really a matter of design more than anything. That's why cars have bumpers and various parts of the car that are designed to bend and distort in a collision.
I remember in high-school, we had to watch these old films in driver's education class where they would crash cars into each other. They crashed VW bugs and some big old land yacht. The crashes were two VWs into each other, two big cars into each other, and then one of each into each other.
When the two VWs were crashed, they practically just bounced off each other, stopping very quickly.
The two large cars crashing into each other just kept crumpling into one huge mess stuck together.
Now, when the big car was crashed into the Bug, that wasn't real pretty, but which car was dangerous? When it was just bug vs bug, there was very little damage. The variable was the big car. (No, I am not saying VW Bugs were safe cars! The trunk in front is a BAD design from the point of frontal collision safety!)
Keep in mind that MOST collisions are SINGLE car. You lose control of the car and hit the curb, or a tree, or slide off the road. In all those situations, a lighter car will always stop quicker, and hit with less energy than a heavier car.
That's another reason why mini-vans were so popular and won a lot of safety awards. The were relatively large spacewise, so there was lots of room for the occupants inside, lots of room for crumple-zones, but they were still relatively NOT-heavy. They also had a relatively low center of gravity, so they didn't do roll-overs the way the heavier and higher center-of-gravity SUVs do.
Keep in mind that mass x velocity = momentum (how hard you hit!)
Anyways, we would all be better off driving slower, lighter vehicles.
When was the last time you heard of anyone getting killed from one golf cart or bicycle crashing into each other. (Not saying it can't happen, but there is just so much LESS energy there)
Cars don't kill, mass x velocity does.
Anyways, we would all be better off driving slower, lighter vehicles.