False Security in Larger Vehicles

[Chuck]

The local news on MSNBC tends to have traffic fatalaties of light truck drivers and/or people that were ejected becasue they did not wear a seat belt. Seems the two tend to go together: "I'm protected by the large vehicle, so I'll roll down the window and relax..." Of course, I occasionally hear about cars ejecting people - just not as much.

Lots of people have this idiotic mentality they can safely drive in a trance.

Originally Posted by KXAS

IRVING, Texas - Rush-hour traffic was slowed along state Highway 114 after the driver of a pickup truck was killed in a single vehicle crash east of state Highway 161.

Police said the driver was ejected from the pickup truck (club cab F150) after it rolled over off the highway into the embankment at about 3:30 p.m. Friday.

There was no word on whether the driver was wearing a seat belt.

[Skwyre7]

Survival of the Fittest.

Joking aside, it's just stupid to not wear a seat belt. I've lost a few friends to single car crashes where they were thrown from the vehicle. There is no reason for that. 15 seconds each time you get in the vehicle can save your life. Car or truck - it won't matter if you fly through the windshield.

[Chuck]

Can you believe in the 1930's, many thought being thrown out of the car was safer than being in it?

[ILAveo]

Originally Posted by Delta Flyer

Can you believe in the 1930's, many thought being thrown out of the car was safer than being in it?

It is a good idea to use your seatbelt to keep you in the protection of the passenger compartment of a modern car, but I'm not sure there was nearly as much advantage in the "good old days." This week I was doing a project in an old junkyard that still had a few wrecks from the 50's and 60's in it. In some cars the front ends were more or less intact, but the passenger compartment had crumpled. The driver wouldn't have had space to survive unless he was thrown clear. In the time before crumple zones, safety glass, and fire protection measures, when average highway speeds were lower, I can see why you might have thought that you were more likely to survive landing outside the car than having your engine land in your lap.

[iamian]

It tracks back to the mind set of thinking that large tank like vehicles are safer to be in.

Like most things people don't like to look at the issues involved, they want to simplify things too much... and in so doing often get it wrong.

The larger the vehicle the more it will weigh....

The more the vehicle weighs the more momentum it will have... which means you will find it harder to brake or turn out of the way.... So the heavier the vehicle the less your maneuverability.... The less maneuverability you have the odds of not being able to avoid an accident goes up... so larger heavier vehicles are more likely to to be in an accident given the same conditions... People driving the large vehicle also tend to be over confident and make worse driving choices as they "feel" safer in the large heavy vehicle.

The Larger and Heavier the vehicle is The more energy it brings to the accident... so two large vehicles hit each other more energy = more damage to everybody.... if a large vehicle its a object that won't move like a tree or telephone pole, or hill side or wall, there again is more energy brought into the accident and thus more damage to everybody involved.

I think one of the reasons people got on this idea of big and heavy is safe is the Tank... They have seen or heard about Tanks plowing through barriers and other obstacles and get the idea.... But it only applies when the large vehicle grossly out weighs what it hits... a tank hitting a VW Bug the several hundred ton tank won't even feel it.... But the several hundred ton tank that hits another several hundred ton tank or a big enough solid enough wall will cause the two vehicles to bring so much energy into the accident that there probably won't be any survivors.


just my 2 bits.

[koreberg]

@iamian

I agree with most of what you say, the only thing I would add is, some of these vehicles are tanks when compared to small cars, like the insight. So there is some saftey added to those drivers against small cars.

But ultimately if everyone has 1 then you're actually worse off than you would be if everyone has small cars.

[iamian]

I would agree some of the Tractor Trailers trucks and other such overly large vehicles do grossly outweigh the small cars like the Insight... Which makes them less able to avoid getting into an accident... And more likely to die if they run into an object like a tree or other large vehicle.

I would also say that since from what I have read about the number of large tractor trailer trucks on the road there seem to be more of those than all hummers ever sold .... I have read some places estimates of over 4,000,000 tractor trailer type trucks on the road in the US alone.... Even the largest Hummer at what 7,000 Pounds is dwarfed and will be road paste if it runs into a truck the size of a tractor trailer , this is also true of any SUV, those big rigs you see on the road can be hauling up to or over 80,000 pounds.... They dwarf by weight and number of vehicles on the road any of the smaller trucks that people say they feel safer in.... The lack of maneuverability of larger heavier vehicles it clearly seen in the maneuverability of the big rigs compared to the small cars like the insight.

Roll Overs account for 1/3 of all passenger vehicle fatalities in the US... Roll Over kill over 10,000 people per year in the US.... trucks and SUVs depending on model are up to 400% more Likely to roll over than passenger cars and average over 100% more likely.

SUVs according to NHTSA are more likely to be involve in backup collisions, than passenger cars.

Just my two bits... and I am well aware there are millions out there who will buy the biggest heaviest vehicle they can afford because they feel safer in it.... and they don't care if they actually are safer or not ... and they don't care if they are a larger threat to everyone else around them or not.... They feel safer and that is all they need.

[Chuck]

The classic Unsafe at Any Speed, cited the spinnout hazard of the rear-heavy Corvair...it was essentially a larger VW Beetle - making steering resemble literally a bicycle (this was the family car). About 50 Corvair fatalities resulted from spinning off the road at highway speed - rear first. The suspension before 1965 resulted in fautly tracton, making the spinout risk greater.

I spun out once - totally my stupidity, but my later thought was I'd been in a rollover if this was a pickup.

_____________________________

Another thought on passenger ejections is wondering how many drivers are sober...granted, many drivers just do very stupid things - most of us her have done some embarrassing things sober, but still comes the thought "what are they smoking?"

[ILAveo]

Originally Posted by Delta Flyer

The classic Unsafe at Any Speed, cited the spinnout hazard of the rear-heavy Corvair...it was essentially a larger VW Beetle - making steering resemble literally a bicycle (this was the family car). About 50 Corvair fatalities resulted from spinning off the road at highway speed - rear first. The suspension before 1965 resulted in fautly tracton, making the spinout risk greater.

.......

_____________________________

Another thought on passenger ejections is wondering how many drivers are sober...granted, many drivers just do very stupid things - most of us her have done some embarrassing things sober, but still comes the thought "what are they smoking?"

I saw a corvair at a safe speed this week:


Actually it was a small car for its day--in the junkyard it somehow reminded me of the Ford Contour. I read somewhere that Nader later said that the "Unsafe at any Speed" was just a case study--in his opinion, a lot of other cars at the time were just as unsafe.


The most important safety features of any vehicle is sitting behind the wheel. Booze, drugs and distractions certainly don't help.

There are a lot of impaired drivers out there. Medication my wife was given after hip surgery a few years ago made her unsafe (in my opinion) driving the little electric handicapped shopping cart around the supermarket (insert mental image of me picking up cans that have been knocked off the shelf surrounded by wide-eyed small children who I snatched out of my wife's way.) She got her driving privileges back before the drugs ran out. I don't think she drove when she was impaired by them (she went through a withdrawal period where she had to gradually reduce dosages), but it's hard to know exactly how long it takes for the meds to wear off enough before your fit to drive.