The IIHS pairs a big hullking 1959 Chevy Bel Air versus a 2009 Chevy Malibu. The results show how far car safety has come in 50 years. Now for the hard part: the drivers.
(thanks Darren)
This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 8:28 am and is filed under Cars, Traffic safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
How We Drive is the companion blog to Tom Vanderbilt’s New York Times bestselling book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), published by Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S. and Canada, Penguin in the U.K, and in languages other than English by a number of other fine publishers worldwide.
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April 9, 2008.
California Office of Traffic Safety Summit
San Francisco, CA.
May 19, 2009
University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies
Bloomington, MN
June 23, 2009
Driving Assessment 2009
Big Sky, Montana
June 26, 2009
PRI World Congress
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
June 27, 2009
Day of Architecture
Utrecht, The Netherlands
July 13, 2009
Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals (ATSIP)
Phoenix, AZ.
August 12-14
Texas Department of Transportation “Save a Life Summit”
San Antonio, Texas
September 2, 2009
Governors Highway Safety Association Annual Meeting
Savannah, Georgia
September 11, 2009
Oregon Transportation Summit
Portland, Oregon
October 8
Honda R&D Americas
Raymond, Ohio
October 10-11
INFORMS Roundtable
San Diego, CA
October 21, 2009
California State University-San Bernardino, Leonard Transportation Center
San Bernardino, CA
November 5
Southern New England Planning Association Planning Conference
Uncasville, Connecticut
January 6
Texas Transportation Forum
Austin, TX
January 19
Yale University
(with Donald Shoup; details to come)
Monday, February 22
Yale University School of Architecture
Eero Saarinen Lecture
Friday, March 19
University of Delaware
Delaware Center for Transportation
April 5-7
University of Utah
Salt Lake City
McMurrin Lectureship
April 19
International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (Organization Management Workshop)
Austin, Texas
Monday, April 26
Edmonton Traffic Safety Conference
Edmonton, Canada
Monday, June 7
Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Wednesday, July 6
Fondo de Prevención Vial
Bogotá, Colombia
Tuesday, August 31
Royal Automobile Club
Perth, Australia
Wednesday, September 1
Australasian Road Safety Conference
Canberra, Australia
Wednesday, September 22
Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s
Traffic Incident Management Enhancement Program
Statewide Conference
Wisconsin Dells, WI
Wednesday, October 20
Rutgers University
Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation
Piscataway, NJ
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Ontario Injury Prevention Resource Centre
Injury Prevention Forum
Toronto
Monday, May 2
Idaho Public Driver Education Conference
Boise, Idaho
Tuesday, June 2, 2011
California Association of Cities
Costa Mesa, California
Sunday, August 21, 2011
American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Attitudes: Iniciativa Social de Audi
Madrid, Spain
April 16, 2012
Institute for Sensible Transport Seminar
Gardens Theatre, QUT
Brisbane, Australia
April 17, 2012
Institute for Sensible Transport Seminar
Centennial Plaza, Sydney
Sydney, Australia
April 19, 2012
Institute for Sensible Transport Seminar
Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne, Australia
January 30, 2013
University of Minnesota City Engineers Association Meeting
Minneapolis, MN
January 31, 2013
Metropolis and Mobile Life
School of Architecture, University of Toronto
February 22, 2013
ISL Engineering
Edmonton, Canada
March 1, 2013
Australian Road Summit
Melbourne, Australia
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September 22nd, 2009 at 3:42 am
A curious, yet common viewpoint. An automobile becomes safer because it injures the occupants less severely than previous models.
When will safety also refer to the level of injury and death inflicted on pedestrians and bicyclists? Neither the 1959 model nor the 2009 model have any safety features from that frame of reference.
Driver education and training, in my opinion, has deterioriated substantially in the USA. Driver education and training appears to be the only available means of protecting non-drivers and it’s failing.
September 30th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I was going to link that video in my own blog about bike safety to show how cars have become bettering rams to protect the occupants without concern to other road users (the driver of the 1959 car would have died at the scene but the driver of the 2009 car which was about the same weight would have had some bruising of the knee) but the IIHS pulled the video because of copyright issues. Also did you see the difference in passenger capacity between those 2 cars? The 2009 car would hold 5 in a pinch, while the 1959 car would hold 6 comfortably.
I still think we should go with George Carlin’s idea of putting a sharp spike in the steering wheel and in the dash in front of the passenger to remind drivers to not crash into things. Seriously cars have gotten too safe too allow them to be on the roads, they are like a man-guided missile now with a reusable guidance device.
October 1st, 2009 at 3:54 am
Opus the Poet, I am pleased to see that someone else understands my point. My concept car would be a bubble car with the driver in an enclosure at the very front of the vehicle, surrounded by clear plastic, perhaps painted for sun protection. It would make the roads safer for everyone, as any crash or collision would cause damage first to the operator. I’d forgotten about Mr. Carlin’s idea, still valid after his departure from this planet.