Jon [look what a big halo I’ve got] Faine

bushfix

What the heck is that article talking about?

I cannot see the connection between a 4WD and talking on a mobile phone or for that matter wearing a seatbelt... What the heck does that have to do with anything?!?!?

I for one always wear my seatbelt and never talk on the phone whilst driving.

How can ppl generalise like this? What has brought people to try and get rid of 4WD on the road?

This is an outrage.

It is based upon a "survey" carried out as part of someone's degree at Imperial College, London. Only one person conducted the viewing of vehicles and there are many assumptions - personally I doubt the validity of the methodology used.

Go here:
press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/june/

and select:
unsafedriving.pdf

for the report - it's only 3 pages.

Mike Harding

worse still, they're comparing us with pommies and yanks! ye gods!

haha well thats in bushfix, every country does things differently, heck it might even be legal to talk on the mobile in London, i dont know.. but i find this VERY offensive, and a huge generalisation.

I think it would depend on the circumstances Frank, don't you?

Frank,

As mike said depending of circumstances, but i know my bull bar on my truck is actually designed to hit people below the knees so it doesnt break them. I would assume a sedan would just hit the person and force them into their windscreen, would a person be more likely to travel under a 4wd than over?

Dunno, interesting to check this out.

EIther way i believe if you get hit by a car your gunna get hurt regardless of what model type or brand..

My thoughts are that if something big and heavy is going to hit a person, they are going to get hurt. A vehicle is at least 10 times heavier than the average person, so the person is going to come off second best......

I would think a car would hit at or below knee height, effectively flipping the person around so their head hits the windscreen, or bonnet, or whatever. A 4WD hits about thigh height, so the person is laid down on the bonnet more. I would guess (this is purely theoretical from my Judo days...) that if more of a person hits the vehicle at the same time, the impact is spread out more, and in effect lessened.....

Call me old fashioned, but I suggest the problem is not the cars or 4WD's.....you don't hear too many stories about cars hitting people when they are driven along foot paths. It's because drivers know what a road is for, and they know what a footpath is for.

Why don't people whinge about dumb-arsed pedestrians stepping onto a road where vehicles can go 60km/h or more without looking??........

I know kids do run out after balls and that, but the equations change when a small kid gets hit...... knee height to an adult is waist height to a kid......

It has actually been a while since this came up in the media - I thought they had grown up a bit.....lol

Cheers,

Chump

Chump thats exactly it mate

you said "Why don't people whinge about dumb-arsed pedestrians stepping onto a road where vehicles can go 60km/h or more without looking??........ "

And 9/10 that is when ppl are killed... because they havnt looked...

Even at level crossings and such ppl just walk accross them, yes the driver is at fault but its all a 2 way street, we as drivers have to look as do pedestrians.. You cannot just expect that a driver has seen you...

In this "study" they specifically excluded taxis, trucks, vans etc.

Why not ban pedestrians from the road, except at designated crossings?

Problem solved!

Chump

The report was put together as part of a degree project for one student at Imperial College, London. Another student did the statistical analysis and a third typed it or something - I give it as much credibility as I do most other student projects.

I doubt they drive any car (probably don't have a mobile either - health risks, you know) but probably ride a bike and eat lots of vegetables. Never mind; it gave St Jon five minutes to ride one of his hobby horses again.

Mike Harding

No, I mean this guy on ABC, and other baggers here in Australia.

All we would have to do was find one person that drives a 4WD, and we could all have a field day with them...

Cheers,

Chump

Just to throw my 2 cents worth into the fray..
If it s the sze of 4WD's that make them apparentrly more likely to kill someone, then why dont we do like they do in certain countries in the Middle East. BAN TRUCKS from our roads in the cities.
Surely using that logic you are more likely to be killed by a truck than a car????
My concept is if you get hit by a car at 60km/hr or a 4wd at 60km/hr or a moped at 60km/hr or a semi trailer at 60 km/hr.. you are dead, dead, F#%ing dead.. Is there a measure of how dead?? sure the truck would make you more dead than the moped, but dead is dead. right????

Don't know about that Coyote ----- few around here where I work been dead for years but still keep turning up on payday :-)

good point patrol 22.. I know of a few who seem dead.. lights are on no ones home type saga... maybe they were hit by a minibus although not sure if it was fitted with bull bar/aftermarket suspension etc hence making it obviously more lethal (note slight hint of sarcasm)
heheheh