At 10:04 05-03-01 -0600, Julia wrote:
>On Mon, 5 Mar 2001, Charlie Bell wrote:
>
> > >
> > > A serious question to consider before buying one, though, is how well a
> > > low-weight, low-emission vehicle will stand up in a collision with a
> > > massive SUV. (I'm tempted to make an attempt at humor by asking if they
> > > will be able to tell which parts were you and which parts were the dog
> > > without DNA analysis . . . OK, I did. ;-) )
> > >
> > >
> > > -- Ronn! :)
> >
> > Simple. Don't crash... ;o)
>
>Can't always be helped.
How true. (Note that the "don't crash" suggestion was not mine.
;-) ) Remind me to tell you sometime about the time the boat hit
me. (Yes, I was on dry land, on the road, minding my own business.)
>The way some of these people drive SUVs around
>here (and the women as a class seem to be ruder and less mindful of the
>safety of others than men as a class),
Is it that they are actually ruder when driving alone, or that as mothers,
women are more likely to have the vehicle full of screaming, fighting kids
who constantly distract them from the task of driving?
> you have to drive *very*
>defensively.
>
>Now, if I hit the right kind of SUV in the right spot at a high enough
>speed, *I'm* the one who's going to walk away. But if I get rear-ended or
>T-boned by an SUV, I'm going to be hurting pretty badly.
See below.
>And what do you do about the idiot who obliviously runs a red light at
>night? Start invoking the death penalty for that sort of thing if a
>fatality results?
We already revoke their license for DUI. Doesn't stop them from
driving. Hang them from the nearest light pole as a deterrent to others,
perhaps?
>(Hm. Maybe that would make some people drive a little
>more friendly....)
I can see the slogan now: "Drive friendly or we'll kill you."
The new issue of _Discover_ (arrived today) has an article on the physics
of SUV's. According to it, not only does the higher center of gravity make
them more likely to roll over (and other parts of the design make a
rollover more likely to be fatal to the occupants than it would be in a
regular car), and the rigid frame acts like a battering ram when the SUV
hits another car, but also the fact that the driver sits approximately 20
inches (50 cm for the foreigners ;-) ) higher than in a regular car makes
it appear to the driver that s/he is not going as fast as s/he actually is
-- e.g., 60 mph in a SUV looks about like 40 mph in a regular car -- so
they are more likely to take a curve too fast and turn over or to misjudge
stopping distance.
The final piece of good news from the article is that the percentage of
light trucks and SUV's on the highways is increasing yearly, and in a few
years it is expected to reach 50%. So soon, every other car you meet will
be a SUV. I don't recall if that is just privately owned vehicles or
includes commercial vehicles. Either way, you and your dogs in your little
crackerbox are going to be sharing the road with SUV's and 18-wheelers. Enjoy.
-- Ronn! :)
