On 2005-10-05, Happy Dog wrote:
I've seen so many near misses that were unavoidable with any amount of
skill. Shot happens. And you're more likely to survive it in a larger
(crashworthy) vehicle. The car in the accident mentioned above was a BMW 3

People also drive a lot more carelessly in a vehicle they feel is
'safe'. This is part of the self-reinforcing problem: people feel unsafe
in a car with all these big SUVs around (being driven carelessly) so end
up buying a huge SUV and driving carelessly themselves.

It has often been speculated that having a big spike sticking out the
steering wheel would do wonders for improving road safety.

In this country, at least, the Mini had quite a good safety record
despite its lack of crashworthiness. Since a Mini was my student car, I
know why - you feel very vulnerable in a Mini. So you drive bloody
carefully and try and avoid the situations in the first place that may
result in a crash. You look extra carefully at junctions. You make sure
there really is enough space to overtake (especially in an 850cc car).
You never ever tailgate because you feel extremely vulnerable tailgating
someone. You drive carefully in snow and ice because you know hitting a
tree is going to put you in hospital at best. You take care to look far
ahead on the road to see a traffic situation developing that you don't
want to be a part of. Unlike my teenage peers at the time who drove by
and large their bigger, more modern cars in a reckless manner (and
frequently roofed them), I drove very carefully because I knew roofing
my car == hospital stay.

--
Dylan Smith, Port St Mary, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
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