That's my definition of all these work "teaming" arrangements. I used to call it "regression to the mean", but soon realized that was far too charitable
A lot of the newer safety features are there to help you avoid wrecks.
It doesn't seem the Hellcat's safety features are robust enough for new drivers trying to enjoy 707 HP. I've seen a lot of damaged Hellcat's already online.
'21 BMW X3 M40i, '15 Audi S4, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
Except that they make take me out along with them. This adds a wrinkle Darwin never mentioned....although I suppose I could be faulted for not swerving fast enough to avoid them
Driving tests need to become a LOT more difficult. There are people out there who should not be driving. They are totally incompetent to pilot 2 tons of hurtling steel down a public street.
Except that they make take me out along with them. This adds a wrinkle Darwin never mentioned....although I suppose I could be faulted for not swerving fast enough to avoid them
Driving tests need to become a LOT more difficult. There are people out there who should not be driving. They are totally incompetent to pilot 2 tons of hurtling steel down a public street.
I don't recall any higher speed driving on my test - more than 20 years ago now though, maybe I forget. I do remember 2 classes of it in drivers ed, but it just loafing along at 60.
I remember a woman neighbor who failed the driving test 7 times. She finally squeaked by. She was an AWFUL driver---horrible. She wore thick goggle-glasses. She was the type that was always tripping and walking into closed sliding doors in shopping malls (Ms. MaGoo?) I never followed up with how much damage, death and destruction she inspired, as I moved soon after, but I'm sure it was pure carnage.
I have an outstanding ignition switch on the Grand Caravan that I've been ignoring. Now the news is saying that it's been recalled again.
Maybe if I wait long enough, the third recall will actually be the fix and I won't have to cool my heels around the waiting room an extra three hours for the first two "repairs".
Meanwhile, a press request:
If you or your child recently took a driver's education course online, please email PR@edmunds.com by Friday, March 13, 2015 to tell a reporter what it was like.
Good article on the Pinto and car safety from the New Yorker.
"Last August, the traffic-safety expert Leonard Evans published a paper in the American Journal of Public Health. In the early nineteen-seventies, Evans wrote, the United States was often said to have the safest roads in the world, and since then traffic fatalities in the U.S. have declined by forty-one per cent. That sounds like an impressive number.
But then Evans pointed out that, in the same period, traffic deaths in the Netherlands, for instance, declined at twice that rate. The United States, once No. 1 in the world in safety, has fallen to nineteenth place. If American highway deaths had followed the European pattern, Evans concluded, twenty thousand lives would have been saved in 2011 alone."
Good article on the Pinto and car safety from the New Yorker.
"Last August, the traffic-safety expert Leonard Evans published a paper in the American Journal of Public Health. In the early nineteen-seventies, Evans wrote, the United States was often said to have the safest roads in the world, and since then traffic fatalities in the U.S. have declined by forty-one per cent. That sounds like an impressive number.
But then Evans pointed out that, in the same period, traffic deaths in the Netherlands, for instance, declined at twice that rate. The United States, once No. 1 in the world in safety, has fallen to nineteenth place. If American highway deaths had followed the European pattern, Evans concluded, twenty thousand lives would have been saved in 2011 alone."
I wonder what the US numbers would be if people stayed off their phones.
A good way to compare is deaths per billion passenger-km: Japan 8.3 New Zealand 8.3 Belgium 7.7 Slovenia 7.6 Spain 7.6 United States 7.6 Austria 6.9 France 6.3 Canada 6.1 Australia 5.6 Israel 5.2 Germany 4.9 Malta 4.9 Netherlands 4.9 Switzerland 4.9 Finland 4.7 United Kingdom 4.3 Iceland 3.8 Sweden 3.7 Denmark 3.4 Norway 3.3 So the US is better than some, worse than others, not surprising given our lax licensing and often poor roads.
Distracted drivers, buy your way to a license standards, lax drunk driving laws, and poor infrastructure likely do most of that.
You mean US speed limits are not too high and the speed kills crowd is wrong? Seems to me some on these forums would argue we go in the wrong direction with speed limits despite Germany's strong showing on the above chart.
'21 BMW X3 M40i, '15 Audi S4, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
You mean US speed limits are not too high and the speed kills crowd is wrong? Seems to me some on these forums would argue we go in the wrong direction with speed limits despite Germany's strong showing on the above chart.
Ironically, I think what the 55 speed rule really ended up accomplishing was giving the public a lack of trust in posted speed limits and therefore leading to more frequent speed limit violations. Government, business - any bureaucracy really, seldom thinks things through beyond the tip of their nose! Short term tactics, no real strategy. Besides, if anyone in the organization dare bring those kind of points up, they'd quickly get their loyalty to the organization questioned, rather than encourage some deeper thinking.
A reporter is looking to get in touch with car owners who are waiting for replacement parts, etc. for their faulty Takata air bags. If you're an affected owner and you'd like to help, please reach out to pr@edmunds.com by no later than Monday, November 9, 2015.
Hmmm...now why would New Zealand and Australia have such radically different rates? How odd.
The reason the USA only has a mediocre rating is probably due to many complexities interacting, of which culture cannot be denied as a major player. As for Japan, anyone who has lived in Alaska knows that their climbers have had a pretty high fatality rate in the past. Is the samurai spirit still alive, deep in the psyche somewhere? Who knows.
"Automakers looking to earn top safety ratings are peering around the corner to prepare for the next directive from the industry’s de facto safety standard setter.
This time, it will involve headlights.
If all goes well...a good performance on the headlight assessment will become a requirement for a vehicle to earn the institute’s highest safety rating, Top Safety Pick+, as early as 2017."
"Automakers looking to earn top safety ratings are peering around the corner to prepare for the next directive from the industry’s de facto safety standard setter.
This time, it will involve headlights.
If all goes well...a good performance on the headlight assessment will become a requirement for a vehicle to earn the institute’s highest safety rating, Top Safety Pick+, as early as 2017."
It's about time. The USDoT wouldn't know a good headlight pattern if it fell on them. When I moved to the US in 1997 I was appalled at how far behind the US was in headlight performance compared to Europe. New cars with transverse filament sealed beams? I think they went away in the UK in about 1975. Small wonder the US came up with airbags first, a necessity when you cannot see where you are going.
It's about time. The USDoT wouldn't know a good headlight pattern if it fell on them. When I moved to the US in 1997 I was appalled at how far behind the US was in headlight performance compared to Europe. New cars with transverse filament sealed beams? I think they went away in the UK in about 1975. Small wonder the US came up with airbags first, a necessity when you cannot see where you are going.
I agree 100%. Back in the '70s and '80s every car I bought was almost immediately fitted with a set of Cibie headlamps. I even installed a set of Hella E Codes on my 1999 Jeep Wrangler- and as a result it has better lighting than a majority of new cars.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
It's about time. The USDoT wouldn't know a good headlight pattern if it fell on them. When I moved to the US in 1997 I was appalled at how far behind the US was in headlight performance compared to Europe. New cars with transverse filament sealed beams? I think they went away in the UK in about 1975. Small wonder the US came up with airbags first, a necessity when you cannot see where you are going.
I agree 100%. Back in the '70s and '80s every car I bought was almost immediately fitted with a set of Cibie headlamps. I even installed a set of Hella E Codes on my 1999 Jeep Wrangler- and as a result it has better lighting than a majority of new cars.
I was using the SilverStar halogens in my car, but they burn out after about 2 years. I found HID adaptation from a company on line for less than the replacement Silverstars.
I'd rather they put more emphasis on visibility, many modern cars have terrible visibility to the rear.
Texases, you're thinking common sense. That doesn't seem to happen anymore in gov, universities or engineering. Complicated things bring in more money.
I like ABS- and parking sensors on something with bad rear visibility, but I'd gladly forego all the stability/lane departure/blind spot nannies. Give me three pedals and a 25% locking diff and I'm good to go...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
A good way to compare is deaths per billion passenger-km: Japan 8.3 New Zealand 8.3 Belgium 7.7 Slovenia 7.6 Spain 7.6 United States 7.6 Austria 6.9 France 6.3 Canada 6.1 Australia 5.6 Israel 5.2 Germany 4.9 Malta 4.9 Netherlands 4.9 Switzerland 4.9 Finland 4.7 United Kingdom 4.3 Iceland 3.8 Sweden 3.7 Denmark 3.4 Norway 3.3 So the US is better than some, worse than others, not surprising given our lax licensing and often poor roads.
Italy is missing from the ranking. Hmmm, maybe they don't count kms. driven on sidewalks, alleys and shoulders!
Italian death rate per 100,000 inhabitants per year is way better than the USA. About the same as Canada. Italians are very good drivers--they just cut it real close but they know what they're doing. I spent a month driving there recently and I was duly impressed with their skill. And no road rage--zip, zero, did I observe. Now PARKING, that's a different story.
I'm with roadburner--all I need is seat belts, air bags, ABS and a locking diff. A rear view camera on a small car like mine isn't necessary. I truly loathe all the other safety nannies. I bet someday we'll calculate that they cause as many accidents as they prevent, due to increasing the confidence of drivers who shouldn't have any.
I noticed the same in Italy. It was insane, with rules made up on the spot and things like stop lights and turn lanes taken as suggestions, but I saw no crashes, no close calls. Horns are used to communicate, so it would probably offend some wimpy PNWers. I remember being nervous to drive that X5 through morning rush hour in Torino, but I had no real problems. Just pay attention, drive with a little bravery, and others will see you. A lot less phone use there too.
True, but the rate is per 100,000 miles, so there's no reason to presume that driving at a 5X the distance rate of the Italians would change things very much, is there?
Naples, Palermo---tough cities to drive in. You have to be really focused. It reminded me of being projected into a video game or a pinball machine.
Yeah, we'd have to know how many accidents occurred, how many cumulative miles, that sort of thing. Probably nobody has died in a Tesla either. OH wait that's not true. A Tesla drove off a cliff on the Pacific Highway here in Sonoma County. Personally, that's not an accident I'd want to chance even in a Volvo XC90.
Yes, going off a cliff into an inescapable body of water, might be preferable to die from the collision rather than from drowning in the death-proof (from collision), but not waterproof XC90.
'21 BMW X3 M40i, '15 Audi S4, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
In the cold waters off Calfornia's northern coast, even if you survived the plunge, in that water you'd be unconscious pretty soon. The idea of a "death proof" car is pretty arrogant if you ask me.
Comments
That's my definition of all these work "teaming" arrangements. I used to call it "regression to the mean", but soon realized that was far too charitable
The fatter crash test dummies that could save lives (BBC)
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Driving tests need to become a LOT more difficult. There are people out there who should not be driving. They are totally incompetent to pilot 2 tons of hurtling steel down a public street.
Maybe if I wait long enough, the third recall will actually be the fix and I won't have to cool my heels around the waiting room an extra three hours for the first two "repairs".
Meanwhile, a press request:
If you or your child recently took a driver's education course online, please email PR@edmunds.com by Friday, March 13, 2015 to tell a reporter what it was like.
Fiat Chrysler Concedes Violating Rule on Reporting Death and Injury Claims (NY Times)
NHTSA wants 7 automakers to answer Takata questions (Detroit News)
BMW may have failed to recall vehicles on time (Detroit News)
NHTSA Fines Triumph Motorcycles $2.9 Million (motorcycle-usa.com)
"Last August, the traffic-safety expert Leonard Evans published a paper in the American Journal of Public Health. In the early nineteen-seventies, Evans wrote, the United States was often said to have the safest roads in the world, and since then traffic fatalities in the U.S. have declined by forty-one per cent. That sounds like an impressive number.
But then Evans pointed out that, in the same period, traffic deaths in the Netherlands, for instance, declined at twice that rate. The United States, once No. 1 in the world in safety, has fallen to nineteenth place. If American highway deaths had followed the European pattern, Evans concluded, twenty thousand lives would have been saved in 2011 alone."
No talking.
No texting.
Japan 8.3
New Zealand 8.3
Belgium 7.7
Slovenia 7.6
Spain 7.6
United States 7.6
Austria 6.9
France 6.3
Canada 6.1
Australia 5.6
Israel 5.2
Germany 4.9
Malta 4.9
Netherlands 4.9
Switzerland 4.9
Finland 4.7
United Kingdom 4.3
Iceland 3.8
Sweden 3.7
Denmark 3.4
Norway 3.3
So the US is better than some, worse than others, not surprising given our lax licensing and often poor roads.
There are definitely a few here who likely think 55 was more than fast enough, thank you very much.
The reason the USA only has a mediocre rating is probably due to many complexities interacting, of which culture cannot be denied as a major player. As for Japan, anyone who has lived in Alaska knows that their climbers have had a pretty high fatality rate in the past. Is the samurai spirit still alive, deep in the psyche somewhere? Who knows.
50 Years Ago, ‘Unsafe at Any Speed’ Shook the Auto World (NY Times)
"Automakers looking to earn top safety ratings are peering around the corner to prepare for the next directive from the industry’s de facto safety standard setter.
This time, it will involve headlights.
If all goes well...a good performance on the headlight assessment will become a requirement for a vehicle to earn the institute’s highest safety rating, Top Safety Pick+, as early as 2017."
Insurance Institute trains its sights on headlights (autonews.com)
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
VERY happy with them. Check it out if interested.
http://ddmtuning.com/
Texases, you're thinking common sense. That doesn't seem to happen anymore in gov, universities or engineering. Complicated things bring in more money.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
I'm with roadburner--all I need is seat belts, air bags, ABS and a locking diff. A rear view camera on a small car like mine isn't necessary. I truly loathe all the other safety nannies. I bet someday we'll calculate that they cause as many accidents as they prevent, due to increasing the confidence of drivers who shouldn't have any.
Death rate/person in the US is about 10, in Italy about 6. But no info on rate/km, US drives a lot more.
Naples, Palermo---tough cities to drive in. You have to be really focused. It reminded me of being projected into a video game or a pinball machine.
"The company, which actually has one vehicle – the Volvo XC90 – in which no one in the U.S. has died in in at least four years"
Volvo Says It Will Have A Death-Proof Car By 2020 (Consumerist)