proxim2020 wrote:
Speedogomer wrote:
I'll put it this way...
For many years people drove without seatbelts, most of them are alive today, never had an issue.
For a long time cars didn't have ABS or airbags, most people who drove those cars are fine today.
Cars didn't have crumple zones, tow ratings were a recommendation, and WDH with sway control was unheard of.
People all the time like to use the argument "we never had those safety things in my day and I'm fine". That's because every person who isn't fine, is dead from the lack of safety equipment.
Its an additional safety measure, something you may not ever need, just like a seat belt. You may ride around for your whole life unbelted and be fine.
I'm a paramedic, and trust me when I say this, seeing just one dead kid face down in a ditch after being ejected from a vehicle because he was not restrained with a seatbelt... Makes you a believer in seatbelts. For every story that you have about " I know a guy who was thrown out of a car and would have died if he wasn't", I have 100 stories of people who would have been alive with just a headache if they were belted.
Point being, even with a large truck, its a modern safety tool and can help avoid trouble.
I agree with you 100%. It's like the fire extinguishers I have in my home. I take plenty of precautions so that I never have to use them. I look at them everyday and hope that they'll never have to come out of their mounts for an emergency. If a situation comes up where I need it, boy I sure will be glad that I had it.
Back in school, we were having a conversation about the difference in the life expectancy between men and women on average. The professor ran down a list of why men have a higher mortality rate than women. His number one reason, which is backed by studies, was that men are naturally more prone than women to take "unnecessary" risks. As we age the level of unnecessary risk drops, but it's somewhat omnipresent and never really equates to the level of our female counterparts. That's something that will stick with me forever and made me question a lot of decisions since.
Sway control is just insurance really. As with all forms of insurance you can buy a lot or a little. You may spend your who life and never need it. But having some insurance and never needing it is better than needing it and not having it. For me, even an inexpensive sway control system is still a wise investment. A 10,000 lbs+ combo getting out of control can do a lot of damage. It's just not worth the risk to me. Even experts have days when they run across something that they've never seen or experienced before and need help.
The safety argument you make is an interesting one. But one that I don't think can be proved.
Where is the testing done by an independent agency on a skid pad under controlled conditions to actually prove that these products work as many think they do? What I fear is that these have been so successfully marketed as a Safety Enhancement with no real testing to back that claim and so many believe it without question that it has taken on a life of it's own. I for one am not convinced one way or the other. I don't claim to know whether they work or not. But I would like to see some testing from someone other than the MFG's.
Secondly your safety equipment argument made above is really a straw man argument. No one is saying that good proven safety equipment shouldnt be used or adopted. But it should be proven effective first.
My main question really is this: Are these products really improving something or are they masking a dangerous combination of over-weight, out of balance rigs and driving skills?
And why is it that some people driving nearly identical rigs dont experience the same problems and feel very differently about these products?
I dont claim to have the answers...but I think the questions deserve airing and discussing.
