wilber1 wrote:
I don't dispute any of that but with the average vehicle becoming heavier and heavier, it becomes less than a zero sum game and we become less safe,
You allege vehicles are getting heavier and that is making us less safe.
Let's cut to the chase - vehicle fatalities. If we are becoming less safe in our vehicles, why does the fatality rate continue to drop? If you look at deaths per miles driven, the fatality rate in 1988 was 2.32 per hundred million miles traveled. In 2012, the rate was 1.14. That's a drop of 50%. How can that be?
Click here for sourcewilber1 wrote:
Perhaps instead of thinking about how safe we are in our big trucks, we should be conscious of the fact that if we are in a collision with a smaller vehicle, regardless of who is at fault, the greatest amount of the resulting grief and carnage will be because of our vehicle, not the smaller one. Not only that but the greater weight of our vehicles makes them less able to avoid a collision. A feller named Newton said so over 300 years ago and things haven't changed.
So, instead of maintaining that heavy vehicles are safer, we should be asking ourselves, safer for who, because it is the large vehicle that has the most potential to do damage, cause injury and death.
So, we finally get down to it - it's not "fair" that some people drive big cars or trucks? What do you suggest? Everybody be forced to drive the same size/weight car?
I own a 3/4-ton Suburban because it fits my needs. And frankly, because I can. I can afford the price (bought it with cash, not financed), I can afford the gas (12 MPG), and I like it. Frankly, crashworthiness wasn't even a thought. I understand that it can easily kill me or others, like any other vehicle, and I treat it with respect, just like I'd treat a gun with respect.
