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Today I saw a Sentra rear end an old X-car Buick...the woman in the Sentra was on the phone (of course), and yelled at the guy in the Buick after the crash! Her car had decent damage - broken grille/lights, the old X-car looked untouched.
For once, imidazol and I agree. I didn't mean fatalities don't occur on rural interstates in insignificant numbers. It's just that fatalities are more frequent on non-interstates, especially rural two-lane roads.
On rural interstates, most fatalities are single-vehicle crashes where the vehicle leaves the road and either rolls over or hits a fixed object (the latter of which is usually much farther from the roadside than on a typical 2-lane road). Going faster makes the outcome worse.
Look at the typical interstate median or off the right shoulder of the road. It's often too sloped to negotiate at any significant speed without rolling over.
And there is no proof that higher speeds on limited access highways lead to more fatalities or accidents. So that doesn't make your point, either.
imidazol97: The interstate speeds do need to be controlled (and no this is not Germany autobahns.)
Yes, there does need to be control on the interstates. Left lane campers who rudely block traffic need to be controlled. This is one of the reasons the Autobahn works so and is so safe. They understand the concept of lane discipline. So, yes, there are lessons that we can learn from the Autobahn.
Doesn't mean it's more likely to happen...or that higher speeds on limited access highways lead to higher fatality rates per 100 million vehicle miles driven (the accepted method of measuring safety).
Doesn't mean [crashes are] more likely to happen...or that higher speeds on limited access highways lead to higher fatality rates per 100 million vehicle miles driven (the accepted method of measuring safety).
There is proof; you just don't want to believe it because it would rain on your parade (the fun of driving fast). And make no mistake, it is fun. So you continue to believe Car and Driver and the enthusiast press rather than NHTSA, IIHS, and the National Academy of Sciences. Pat Bedard doesn't get his articles published in peer-reviewed journals like the respected Accident Analysis and Prevention, but the IIHS does with its research studies.
Now I greatly respect/admire your posts on automotive history and on GM's future, to name a couple of issues. You are a good writer. But on this issue of speed, you are incorrect, but no different from the enthusiast press, which earnestly wants to believe driving fast causes no harm.
I was a little sad too when I realized there was no Santa Claus.
Good point... There is no US autobahn. Our roads are for the masses. The high speed accidents on interstates around here often involve other cars and cause "gasp" fatalities. The powers that be put cable fences in the medians of I 75 to reduce the number of these high speed accidents crossing over and hitting oncoming cars in the opposite direction. At the speed limit of 65 and lower the crossover is less of a problem due to the obvious laws of physics.
There is no repeal of laws of physics. High speeds = more kinetic energy.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
It's not possible to "prove" anything here, and we're just going around in circles on this.
Time to get back to reporting on the goofballs out there.
Duh. The squirrel was moving faster than he was. But I sometimes go couple below the speed limit on the 3 lanes total road so I don't criticize the speed. Maybe if he speeded up the squirrel might have been at risk.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Picture on website:
http://www.solidrockchurch.org/ministries.htm
The scene is distracting and causes more accidents than it prevents because people are looking over. It is about 150 feet from roadway to the pond.
This is better than the previous large purple neon sign that had messages flowing across the bottom. At night it was obvious inconsiderate drivers drifted across the 3 lanes because of the distraction.
Anyone feel free to email at address in interests part of profile. I shouldn't continue off topic.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
last week there was a guy i passed reading the paper, but he was holding it very low instead of above the wheel (so it could be seen and would be obvious to others).
i have seen ladies rolling forward applying mascara, which is vera vera scara 2 me. i've complained to my wife when she tries to apply mascara while in the passenger seat... all you need is one unanticipated quick stop, or some road debris.
i've seen people tailgate to view the entertainment system / video display of the vehicle in front of them.
I'm SURE it willcome up again, but it would be nice to give it a rest for now.
Maybe you should give her a demonstration next time? :surprise:
How did you know they were tailgating for that? Maybe they were just tailgaters.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Well everyone is cheerfully moving along at the same speed when the van signals a lane change and moves into the middle lane. Just as he does the car that was next to me speeds up gets on his rear end and just tailgates the van maybe a foot or two behind him. If the driver of the car had maintained his speed then everything would have been alright. But no he (or she) had to speed up and tailgate the van.
What was the point of that anyways?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
"You are what you eat... what does stupid taste like, anyway??"
Cheers!
Paul
In the merry, merry month of ...(October),
When many brake lights did appear,
In the left lane I do fear,
Caused by an oblivious couple in an early 90s Sentra. (Sorry, couldn't get the last line to rhyme.)
Why do they do that?
In traffic there's no space to waste! The lines spill over to the next intersection and the people behind them aren't expecting such early braking, so you have a lot of panic braking too. People trying to change lanes at that moment face potential trouble too.
There are few things more dangerous than those which other drivers don't expect you to do.
you are correct, they could have been
1). using the SUV as some sort of radar cover
2). drafting to improve fuel efficiency
3). trying to keep up so as not to get lost
Traffic was moving nicely but then started to bunch up in the left lane with a lot of brake lights going on. The cars in the left lane slowed enough (below the 55 mph limit) that I ended up going faster than those stuck there.
Up ahead, I saw a new Mustang that had passed me WAY back, now on the rear of some other car that was obviously holding up the line.
People started to pass the LLC on the right, including the Mustang. By the time I caught up with the car at the first red light, I saw it was an early 90s Sentra with a middle-aged couple inside, one dangling a cigarette out the open window.
That's a virtual guarantee of an ignorant driver. I always watch out for those people.
to the point of a friend of a friend travelling from Finland with his family to get her DL in Madison, WI. Her vision was not perfect, and the expense of travelling across the pond was probably the only way she could get a license and later "transfer" it to her native country.
Let's not idealise the autobahns and European roads and driving manners in general... it varies.
I find that odd. The first vehicle any of my children will drive is my '69 Econoline. That thing is one of the most unwieldy, cumbersome "passenger" vehicles left on the road. Why will I do this? Because once they master driving it, they can move to any other passenger vehicle and drive it with the competency required to thrive on today's roads. Pamper them early on and they might end up driving something more challenging and take a little too much for granted... A child can handle any challenge when they approach it with care and respect, but if they think they know everything about it already, the confidence of youth betrays them.
The bigger problem here is that the vast majority of parents are less than competent drivers themselves. It's the blind leading the blind and the problem compounds itself with every generation. :sick:
I had a 0100 broomball game this night, so I went to bed at 2200 to catch a couple hours of sleep before the game. I woke up at 0012, hopped in the car after a few minutes of trying to clear my head, and went into town. After I hit the main road, I was blissfully driving along with my brights on... which was okay because most people were smart enough to be sleeping at this time of night. Eventually another car approached, so I dimmed the lights. Then, about 5 seconds before we pass, I think "I should turn the radio on to get into the mood to play broomball!" Prior to this, I was driving at 9 and 2 positions (had just operated the light switch and planned to do so again). So, as I prep to take my right and off the wheel, I move my left hand to a better position... and flipped my brights on! I immediately flipped them back off, we passed, and I turned them back on. I could not figure out why/how I did this unless my coat snagged the switch, but I was certainly embarrassed by it. The other driver was probably thinking, "What the hell?! I didn't have my brights on.... you SAW me dim them right after you dimmed yours!!!"
I felt a little relieved when I realized that my wife had shut the driving lights off (I normally keep them tied on to the brights all the time) because at least I did not cause the person pain, but still, very embarrassing.
I willingly submit to any ridicule I am rightly given. :lemon:
i don't agree with you on your assertion that it's better to learn on something unwieldly and cumbersome. you're practically admitting it will be a problem for them to drive. don't you want the experience to be successful and promote confidence? don't you want the rest of the commuting public to be safe? (sort of tongue and cheek - i understand the point you are trying to make, and also assume you're going to be riding in that econoline providing direction and encouragement).
i do agree w.r.t. parent driver competency, or the lack thereof. also i question parents that buy children new cars like a Jeep...talk about the potential for trouble.
A lot of folks that learn on small cars have a very hard time learning or driving a BIG car. For example my kids can EASILY drive a small car. I also know that a lot of folks have also seen the so called "safer and easier to drive small compact car? ". You know the breed? Bumper damage front and rear, paint and dents to all four doors, 4 scrapped rims all four fenders damaged? If one does not "get" that these folks are "advertising", what will it take? An up close and personal accident with the "free advertisers?"
If they had learned on a small car, what you are saying is they probably would have a harder time in an suv. I am sorry if this is a leap for you.
As a parent, I am much more at ease knowing they can drive just about anything.
ok, teach them on a standard truck. i don't care (i would advocate the standard part...they'll be at a party or out where a friend drove a stick and is stupid drunk)...truck, van, SUV, ok...just not the primary vehicle they get to use when learning, no.
i'm not disagreeing with you re: learning exclusively on small cars. but learning to drive is not just a physical thing. it's about reading the road, having proper situational awareness, preparing an exit if things go bad in front of you, learning not to tailgate, learning and operationalizing the rules of the road and lots more. i think that is all better done in a non-SUV.
anyway, the point was kids driving SUVs are more likely to get in an accident. we aren't debating that are we?
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/PPT/2003EARelease.pdf
SMALLER cars are involved % and volume wise MORE in accidents and fatalities than suvs. As a comparison small cars are app 26% of the passenger vehicle fleet and suvs are 12-15% of the vehicle fleet. Suvs are involved app 10-11% Small cars are app 27-29%. So if the passenger vehicle fleet is 232 M, I will trust you to do the math.
I agree that a small car getting hit by an SUV would probably not have as good a change as an SUV being hit by a small car.
I learned to drive on a 1973 AMC Gremlin, which had drum brakes all-around, absolutely NO weight over the rear wheels, and power steering absolutely devoid of road feel. If you could drive that clunker, you could drive anything.
Today's SUVs have much more capability than that thing ever did. Heck, SUVS from the 1970s (Ford Bronco, Chevy Suburban/K-5 Blazer, Jeep Wagoneer, International Harvester Travelall) had much more capability than that Gremlin did. Somehow, I survived. So, for that matter, did a classmate in his 1969 Plymouth Road Runner (with 383 V-8 and four-speed shifter that doubled as a bicep-building machine), and another classmate in a 1972 Chevy Nova with a jacked-up back end and mag wheels.
Maybe that's why I'm not automatically worried about kiddies behind the wheels of SUVs. Now soccer moms yakking on the cell phone while piloting GMC Denalis is another matter entirely...
But I wouldn't let my kids learn to drive on a '69 Ford Econoline today. It's unsafe by any standard - you sit in the crush zone, not behind it, it has only lap belts, lacks a collapsible steering column (as cars of the era already had), and has abyssmal handling, even by 1969 criteria. It's not all that big either, compared to today's large pickups, vans, and SUVs. Plus in Alaska, aren't most rural roads still 2-lane? So all it takes is one errant driver crossing the centerline for disaster.
Even back then, Consumer Reports gave the 1967 Ford Econoline a "Not Acceptable" rating, IIRC. I'm not all that familiar with the exact timing of the model changes, but wouldn't the '69 be similar?
I'd recommend starting a kid on a large recent-model pickup with manual transmission if you want to give them the experience of driving a relatively "clunky" vehicle.
They don't start pilots on the big four-engine airliners to give them enough confidence so they can fly anything, do they?
No, my buddies started off in front line air superiority, air dominance tactical fighters!! Peace is sure tame in super 767 trans Alantic flights!!