Are our Slants "Unsafe"?
I keep hearing about how "safe" new cars are and I saw a crash test of a 1959 Chevy Bel Air vs. a new Chevy Malibu.
I just have a real hard time believing that a Chrysler Newport isn't as safe as a Scion xB. What would you rather get T-Boned in? I'm picking the Newport.
I am an appointed member of the US National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board, so I see a great deal of data (i.e., actual results of actual crashes) without having to worry that USA Today or CNN or Fox or whoever might be spinning it this way or that way for whatever reason, and in the event I'm not sure what I'm seeing I get to ask the scientists and researchers directly.
The factual answer is that you're much, much safer in the xB. The fantasy answer with all the handwaving and bogus rationalisation is that you're safer in the Newport. The Newport itself is less likely to sustain fatal damage in the crash, but the Newport's occupants are much more likely to get hurt or get dead. The human mind has a great capacity for self-deception. We do it all day, every day just to get along in life without going postal.
Here, take a look at this:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siT-SIfOnQw"]1960s Crash Tests - YouTube[/ame]
A lot of Mopars in those '68 GM tests. Note how well the stronger, improved 1964 door latches work (not) to prevent the door flying open in a crash. I see a
lot of very dead and very maimed people when I view that video. And here's what happens when a '78 Plymouth hits a barrier at 65 mph (the really revealing views start at about 0:50):
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sCMm1oOIM8"]1978 Plymouth Crash Test.flv - YouTube[/ame]
That said, just as those who babble about how the invisible hand of the free market would've solved the problem of auto safety all by itself without meddlesome interference by government regulators need to shut up a lot because they're full of poo, so do those who pat themselves on the back and crow about what a great job American regulators and the rules they write have done of improving vehicle safety. There are still a
lot of unreasonably unsafe cars in the American market. Ford's been one of the worst offenders, though their latest stuff is mostly quite good, and Chrysler's built a lot of vehicles with poor safety performance recently, too (but even these laggards are much safer than an old car). Fact is, America's progress in improving auto safety has
lagged badly compared to the rest of the first world. We're doing a comparatively lousy job.
But the likelihood of dying or sustaining any given amount of injury in traffic just keeps going lower and lower and lower even as there are more and more and more cars driving more and more and more miles. Part of that is much less tolerant attitudes toward drunken driving, part of it is better tires on a new or an old car alike, but a giant chunk of it is a result of the enormous improvement in the safety performance of automobiles now compared to 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago.
And them's the facts. Believe 'em or don't.
