Quote:
Originally Posted by tjts1
If it all comes down to cautious driving, why have car makers put so much effort into airbags, brakes, ABS, structural rigidity, stability control, seat belt pretensioners, etc in the last 15 years?
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Because drivers aren't safe/cautious as a whole.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tjts1
I absolutely agree that driving habits are extremely important to over all safety. But even the safest driver won't be able to avoid every accident. While amount of driving has increased by every possible metric over the last 15 years, the fatality rate per number of miles driven, total population, number of vehicles registered and number of drivers has decrease dramatically.
FARS Encyclopedia
Are we supposed to believe that drivers today are that much more cautious and all the technological advancements were a waste of time? I don't think so. |
No, and I never maintained that drivers today are safer. What I did say is that compared to the safest car out there w/ an average driver, the safest driver with an average car will still be safer. The safest thing to do is not get in an accident. It's the same reason why fatalitiy rates for drivers who have accidents more often are ~4-5 times higher in crashes with semis than they are in the same crashes with safe drivers. In other words, bad drivers who tend to cause accidents, regardless of how safe their car is, should stay away from larger vehicles.
Furthemore, while the safest driver can't avoid every accident, by definition then tend to avoid them especially the life threatening ones, as such it's safer to drive safetly than it is to have a newer/safer car.