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Vehicle Factors

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)

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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.

3 Responses to “Vehicle Factors”

  1. fred_dot_u Says:
    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.

  2. Opus the Poet Says:
    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.

  3. fred_dot_u Says:
    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.

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