Do we really need all that safety stuff?

[Xist]

The next time that I use my sister's laptop, I will post the picture of the SUV in which she was riding a year ago that rolled over. All of us have seen pictures like that and even rolled-over vehicles, but safety equipment probably saved her life. Subaru keeps promoting their anti-collision systems and other manufacturers are working on them. Had the car stopped itself and slapped the driver, that might have been an uneventful day for everyone.

She felt that she needed an SUV to protect her kids, only to see how the high center of gravity works out. People want large vehicles to protect themselves from everyone else and with weight on their side and the safety equipment, they drive offensively.

Don't rugby players experience fewer injuries than U.S. football players, even though they have far less, if any, safety equipment?

[paulgato]

Originally Posted by Xist

The next time that I use my sister's laptop, I will post the picture of the SUV in which she was riding a year ago that rolled over. All of us have seen pictures like that and even rolled-over vehicles, but safety equipment probably saved her life. Subaru keeps promoting their anti-collision systems and other manufacturers are working on them. Had the car stopped itself and slapped the driver, that might have been an uneventful day for everyone.

She felt that she needed an SUV to protect her kids, only to see how the high center of gravity works out. People want large vehicles to protect themselves from everyone else and with weight on their side and the safety equipment, they drive offensively.

Don't rugby players experience fewer injuries than U.S. football players, even though they have far less, if any, safety equipment?

I used to walk to school 2 miles, then cycle when I was old enough. These days parents are worried that their children would be vulnerable with all those cars about, but half the cars on the road at that time of day are parents taking their kids to school.

There's evidence that countries which make cycle helmets mandatory have more cycling injuries than countries where helmets are not usually worn. (Helmets are good for very young kids though.)

Improving safety is not usually a matter of throwing lots of new technology at a situation, although of course you can make a lot of money out of selling expensive safety kit to fearful people. Less easy to make money out of things like good safety advice, education, legislation to lower speed limits, building dedicated cycle lanes and so on.

[Frank Lee]

Here they close down all the neighborhood schools and build new Taj Mahals a little past the outskirts of town. Then almost nobody walks or bikes to school. Traffic jams of parent chauffeurs ensue but on top of that, busing costs skyrocket- oh well, who cares, it's only the taxpayer's money and besides it's for the children. Then somebody realized the fat little *******s weren't getting any exercise so now there are million dollar govt grants to develop walk and bike paths to the now far-away schools... far away, that is, until the new housing developments sprawl out around them (and the towns get empty at their cores).

You simply can't make this stuff up.

[johnsiddle]

Fred Flintstone never had a problem, he had short legs though....

[user removed]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Here they close down all the neighborhood schools and build new Taj Mahals a little past the outskirts of town. Then almost nobody walks or bikes to school. Traffic jams of parent chauffeurs ensue but on top of that, busing costs skyrocket- oh well, who cares, it's only the taxpayer's money and besides it's for the children. Then somebody realized the fat little *******s weren't getting any exercise so now there are million dollar govt grants to develop walk and bike paths to the now far-away schools... far away, that is, until the new housing developments sprawl out around them (and the towns get empty at their cores).

You simply can't make this stuff up.

LOL @ Frank, tell us what you REALLY think, hehe.

regards
mech

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by mazdamx640

All you need is a soft dash
Head on collision with a drunk driver no wearing a seatbelt and airbags disabled I didn't even go to the hospital

I take it you didn't carry a passenger ?

That's not a frontal, but a glancing blow.
Due to different design / safety concepts - it's something that US cars are usually better at (using deflection structures) than European cars (which will spread the impact to the other side, what may not be the best approach for a minimal overlap situation).

Impact energy dissipation is very different to a real frontal or partial - say 40 to 60 % -overlap situation.

In a glancing blow, there isn't much to stop the other car other than the wheels sheering off and the impact gets pushed away from the A-pillar using deflection structures that push the cars aside rather than into each other, so (relatively) little energy is exchanged between the colliding cars.


That's what made this crash survivable without belt or bag ...
If that drunk bloke had crashed into your car, like 6-8 inches further to the center - it would have made a severe difference.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Here they close down all the neighborhood schools and build new Taj Mahals a little past the outskirts of town. Then almost nobody walks or bikes to school. Traffic jams of parent chauffeurs ensue but on top of that, busing costs skyrocket- oh well, who cares, it's only the taxpayer's money and besides it's for the children. Then somebody realized the fat little *******s weren't getting any exercise so now there are million dollar govt grants to develop walk and bike paths to the now far-away schools... far away, that is, until the new housing developments sprawl out around them (and the towns get empty at their cores).

You simply can't make this stuff up.

You forgot the new mall next door to the school ...

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by euromodder

You forgot the new mall next door to the school ...

And driving from one to the other will involve half a mile of driving and three lights!

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

LOL @ Frank, tell us what you REALLY think, hehe.

regards
mech

There would be A LOT more ******* asterisks if I did!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

So it seems like many folks are okay with that one-size-fits-all bull**** regarding safety. After all, those many airbags would be useless in a car with a weaker structure, and become kinda redundant when we consider all the improvements regarding structural reinforcements.