Thursday, Sep 17, 2009 at 17:59
Hi Tim
First I would agree with you that cars can be to fast in addition
to being to slow.
In fact that statement encapsulates the real issue.
Anything out of the mainstream of human experience will cause an increased
non-compliance.
When applied to car this means more accidents.
We can all point to various anecdotes in which this or that happened
or we lived with a deficient car for ever without a problem but reality
is cold and unforgiving across a large
population.
We can guarantee somethings based on proven, for example more people
who drive little cars will die when they hit big cars.
My line is often to concentrate on the main issues affecting primary
safety, because in the end , while we can't say who it will be
we can say that it will happen.
I am sure you have heard all the standard arguments , like a
surprise you don't need when overtaking a truck and the reply
that having the right "personality" would prevent you being
there in the first place , but you can not escape the conclusion
that slow vehicles close off options.
Using a more recent situation , I do not believe a standard cruiser
would have been able to generate the momentum needed to get up some
unexpectedly hard sand blows we have encountered.
Had it been alone and the second sandstorm had come through 1 day earlier
so they could not turn around , who knows what the outcome might have been.
I have friends with standard landcruiser, now warmed up significantly
from its original 22 sec to 100km. Just wouldn't go there myself.
16 sec is roughly the time needed to keep up with the traffic, the 3lt
Patrol needs to be thrashed to achieve that and its engine is not up to a lot of thrashing.
I'm with you on your last point to, when it comes my turn for an accident I'd prefer it to be slow, but then I'd prefer to not be in the way to get hit at all
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