--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: "Does anyone know if SUV owners drive more recklessly than they would if they had a smaller and/or lighter vehichle and if this causes more accidents in the way that Peltzman found that seatbelts caused more accidents?"
I've heard that they tend to drive the way one would drive in a car, and since they aren't cars they get into more rollovers. I heard it from my dad who read it in an industry newsletter, "Ward's Auto World," available here: waw.wardsauto.com . Yep, that's waw and not www. I did a search and found this: waw.wardsauto.com/ar/auto_buried_statistics/index.htm "Statistically, the Camaro is the most dangerous car on the road, and the Lincoln Town Car has a scary driver fatality rate as well. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) says the �highest death rates are in midsize sports cars.� IIHS goes on to single out the Chevrolet Camaro, Camaro convertible and Pontiac Firebird (which is the same platform) saying they all �have very high death rates in single-vehicle crashes, and that has been true model year after model year.� Wow, talk about a smoking gun. Rollover deaths? The latest data compiled by IIHS says Camaro has 104 rollover fatalities per million registered vehicle years (PMRVY). The convertible has 167, while the Ford Explorer has 26 rollover fatalities PMRVY. The Jeep Cherokee, another SUV some folks think is dangerous, has only 15 rollover fatalities PMRVY. When you consider all types of crashes, in addition to rollovers, the bodies pile up even more. Using the latest data available, the IIHS says Camaros have a driver death rate of 308 PMRVY, for all types of crashes, more than three times the average of 89 deaths PMRVY. Explorer has a death rate of 56 PMRVY. The Isuzu Rodeo, which has not been demonized lately, has almost double the fatality rate: 99 deaths PMRVY. The stately Lincoln Town Car, while far less dangerous to drive than a Camaro, or even an �average� car, still has a death rate that �is surprisingly high� for its segment, says IIHS: 77 deaths PMRVY. Why aren't the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. or consumer advocates ordering investigations? Kim Hazelbaker, a senior vice president at IIHS says that � incredibly � just about everyone agrees that �testosterone and alcohol� are the factors that kill Camaro drivers, not mysterious �design defects.� So-called �demographic factors� also explain the higher-than-expected fatality rate for Town Cars: 56% of people killed in Town Car crashes during '95-'98 were 65 years or older, compared with 15% of all fatally injured drivers. I looked up the federal government's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and found that the only people as prone to killing themselves in car crashes as young males are men over 80." So maybe I'm wrong. Regardless, it's a start. -jsh __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
