Crash test 1959 vs 2009

[scooters]

  On 18/01/2014 at 11:47, Mr Livered said:

^Sometime in the 90s I remember my dad driving under a lorry trailer in his 740 estate (it was dark, and he says he hit it side-on). Looking at the wreck afterwards, the fact the A-pillars were still more or less upright was pretty impressive.

 

He had been test-driving Range Rovers but after the accident he reasoned that if he'd had exactly the same accident in a taller car, he'd have been finished because he would have slapped into the trailer chassis instead of sort of collapsing under it. So he replaced it with a 960.

 

it's amazing how many times you hear the opinion that because you are sitting higher you are safer. OK vision is better but give me a car any day over a 4x4. We know 4 people have been killed driving 4x4s over the last 20 years, rolled the car and dead - 1 in a shogun, 1 in a Land rover 90 and two in p38's and you can see why - our P38 is powerful and will quickly reach 70, however, drifting too far from the straight at that speed will result in a flip over and horrible accident. Do it in a car, especially one designed to go fast and you'll probably get a nasty fright and a few seconds of wrestling the skid.

[garethj]

  On 18/01/2014 at 07:48, IainL said:

My biggest worry is if someone crashes into me at 50 or 60, say a drunk driver for example. Pretty much nullifies the argument for staying safe by simply not crashing eh??

No, that's exactly what I mean.  Not crashing doesn't mean just avoiding brick walls, it means keeping an eye on other traffic, seeing where hazards develop and avoiding them.  I learnt a lot of this while riding through London, plenty of riders kept crashing and blaming others but a few just didn't have any accidents.  How was that possible if they faced the same drivers every day?

 

That's what I mean by not crashing

[filthyjohn]

 

Pause at 6.50, there's a normally aspirated redblock in there.

[mat_the_cat]

  On 18/01/2014 at 13:41, scooters said:

We know 4 people have been killed driving 4x4s over the last 20 years, rolled the car and dead

 

Not the same sort of accident by any means, but it reminded me of this:

 

 

I was incredibly lucky to escape with only a few stiches needed - lucky mainly as I came out of the passenger window mid roll (it started from where I'm taking the photo from) and somehow avoided being squashed. No seatbelt as I rather stupidly thought it was safe, seeing as we were only in low box travelling slowly. Probably the worst part of the whole thing is that my wife was using it as her daily driver, and it happened when I let a mate drive it one evening whilst she was out...

[Mr Livered]

  On 18/01/2014 at 16:56, garethj said:

No, that's exactly what I mean. Not crashing doesn't mean just avoiding brick walls, it means keeping an eye on other traffic, seeing where hazards develop and avoiding them. I learnt a lot of this while riding through London, plenty of riders kept crashing and blaming others but a few just didn't have any accidents. How was that possible if they faced the same drivers every day?

 

That's what I mean by not crashing

I wrote my first car off: I had probably been driving for less than a year. A lorry pulled out in front of me and I smacked my little Mk. 2 Fiesta into the steps to the cab.

 

It was judged to be the lorry driver's fault, because he pulled out onto the road, whereas I was just driving along the road. But I know that accident would never happen nowadays, twenty years later, because with the experience I have now it would be second nature to see what the lorry driver was up to and avoid him.

[garethj]

That's exactly the kind of thing.  But it is hard work, needs concentration and means you can't drive while texting a friend or updating your Facebook status.

 

"Having a crash, LOL"

[Spiny Norman]

  On 18/01/2014 at 16:56, garethj said:

Not crashing doesn't mean just avoiding brick walls, it means keeping an eye on other traffic, seeing where hazards develop and avoiding them.  I learnt a lot of this while riding through London, plenty of riders kept crashing and blaming others but a few just didn't have any accidents.  How was that possible if they faced the same drivers every day?

 

That's what I mean by not crashing

 

AKA 'Defensive driving', a skill sadly lacking in younger drivers and other people who don't bother thinking while they drive. [/oldgit]

 

I've often thought that the people who buy big 4x4s because they're safe are missing an important point. They may have what's referred to as 'passive safety' (being able to cope with a crash once it's happened) but they often have poor active safety, IE the ability to react quickly and avoid a crash in the first place.

Apparently the biggest killer of people in 4x4s is when they simply wobble off the road and into a tree because the driver's forgotten they're driving a truck and not a car.

I nearly chucked my old boss's brand new ML500 at the scenery when I made that very mistake.

[chaseracer]

  On 18/01/2014 at 21:13, filthyjohn said:

Pause at 6.50, there's a normally aspirated redblock in there.

All I can see at 6:50 is Big Tom's MASSIVE FECKIN HAND... 

[Ratdat]

This looks a lot like an engine to me...

 

[Junkman]

Maybe people should just engage their dismal retarded brains, drive the fuck on, and don't bloody crash?