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Who is really to blame?
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Recently the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested a new Chevy Malibu against a ’59 Impala. The Malibu did much better, much to the delight of car dealers who will use any fabrication to sell a car. I questioned the validity of this test results on “The Autolab” stating that I will believe it when I feel it myself.
It has been my belief for quite some time that air bags should have remained an option so that cars would have to pass crash tests on the structure and not their level of packaging material. I also think crash tests and ratings often don’t reflect what happens in the real world. This week I received an email that confirmed all my thoughts.
The email contained pictures of a collision between a Volkswagen and a motorcycle. The driver of the car was on the phone and pulled out in front of the motorcycle. The motorcycle was traveling at 85 miles per hour and could not stop. The motorcycle completely entered the car, which rolled over and stopped about 20 feet from the point of impact. The two people in the car and the cyclist were all killed.
The email was sent with the intent of showing why phones and driving really don’t mix. Of course you can also argue that the cyclist was going at a wreckless speed, but I wish to assert another aspect that greatly affected the results of the accident: The car, which has a high safety rating, didn’t have the structural integrity to prevent a 300 pound motorcycle from going inside.
Congress often legislates with either no knowledge or a perspective which is skewed by special interests. Love them or hate them, air bags should have remained an option. Cars would then have to pass the crash tests on their metal and not packaging material. If this car was strong enough not to be pierced by the motorcycle its passengers would probably have lived. The motorcyclist would have probably been thrown over the car. While he may have died, the circumstance would have offered him a better chance of survival.
They can say all they want with crash tests, but nothing I see in the real world is getting me out of my ’79 Impala
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