Pedestrian safety vs bullbars

[P-hack]

I wondered why you were invoking images of indiana jones

You will have to forgive me for taking what you say at face value.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Look at this Asia Motors Topic, a license-made version of the Mazda Bongo, fitted with some ornament that resembles a bull-bar but is visibly much weaker


An early Ford EcoSport with a plastic bumper extension just for the looks of a bull-bar


The bull-bar on this Land Rover Discovery seems to be more pedestrian-friendly (or less pedestrian-threatening, depending on point of view) than usual

[freebeard]

There's an eight page thread on thesamba.com's Vanagon subforum:
TheSamba.com :: View topic - Bulley bars and Brush guards PICS post em up!

First pic from 2008


last pic from 2014


Odd that they call them a 'bulley bar' when the Type II was called a 'bulli'. For purposes of this thread 'bully bar' would be appropriate. AKA 'roo bar'.

What I'd gone looking for was the Hurst brush guard from the 50s:


http://images.thesamba.com/vw/classi...ix/3942297.jpg

[cowmeat]

Central Florida has a greater percentage of rednecks in F250s with brush guards than anywhere I've ever been.
Of course none of them actually take their trucks off-road, they just spend thousands of dollars to look like they do. Mostly they just go blasting around my Insight on I-4 at 90 mph giving me the finger after they've rode 5 feet off my back bumper for a while

A couple of years ago I was sitting at a light and saw a pedestrian get hit by an F350 with a brush guard towing a triple axle trailer loaded down with a front end loader. It wasn't the driver's fault, she walked right in front of him, but the result was about what you'd expect. Didn't scratch the brush guard on the truck, but it threw the lady about 50 feet and she ended up in a heap on the road.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

There's an eight page thread on thesamba.com's Vanagon subforum

As far as Kombis go, and it also applies to other forward-control vans, some owners think a bull-bar is likely to increase their safety in case of collision. Though it eventually can make it worse and increasing the difficult to provide first aid.

[freebeard]

Most of the eight pages is exactly that debate, rather than pictures. Comparisons to a mousetrap and such.

Nobodies going to point out that Hurst never made a bay-window version?

I think they're mainly to protect the glass and plastic lenses in the various lights.

[redpoint5]

The US has the law backwards, to the demise of pedestrians and human life. Here pedestrians have the right of way at all times, meaning vehicles must yield to them no matter what.

This creates a false sense of security for pedestrians who are used to just stepping in front of traffic and assuming the driver sees them, or can anticipate their movement.

If the law was that vehicles had the right of way, pedestrians would have to use their eyes and ears when stepping onto vehicular roadways. Additionally, massive amounts of fuel would be saved as it's more efficient to stop a 160 lb person traveling at 3 MPH than to stop a 3,000 lb vehicle traveling at 40 MPH.

To the point of the thread; I would likely install a bullbar if I lived in Montana, Utah, Arizona, or any of the other areas where hoards of deer and elk frequently camp on the highway. These states also have a higher top speed than in Oregon.

Perhaps I'd upgrade to this:

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

The US has the law backwards, to the demise of pedestrians and human life. Here pedestrians have the right of way at all times, meaning vehicles must yield to them no matter what.

This creates a false sense of security for pedestrians who are used to just stepping in front of traffic and assuming the driver sees them, or can anticipate their movement.

If the law was that vehicles had the right of way, pedestrians would have to use their eyes and ears when stepping onto vehicular roadways. Additionally, massive amounts of fuel would be saved as it's more efficient to stop a 160 lb person traveling at 3 MPH than to stop a 3,000 lb vehicle traveling at 40 MPH.

Gotta have to agree with that. You know, not everyone can actually drive, so why just focus on "educating" (actually indoctrinating) the drivers and leaving the pedestrians just to behave recklessly like cattle?

[vskid3]

It's kind of strange that car companies are forced to spend so much time and money to make cars meet safety standards, but then Joe Bro can jack up his truck and use a solid block of iron as the front bumper. I don't mind people modding their vehicles to actually go wheeling, I would just prefer for my head to not get taken off by one of them commuting to work if they hit my car (even my truck wouldn't provide much protection from some of them).

[j12piprius]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

A couple of years ago I was sitting at a light and saw a pedestrian get hit by an F350 with a brush guard towing a triple axle trailer loaded down with a front end loader. It wasn't the driver's fault, she walked right in front of him

Pedestrian beware, but don't trucks have to stop at red lights in Florida?