From: boyle@cactus.org (Craig Boyle)
Subject: Re: Is car saftey important? 
Organization: Capital Area Central Texas UNIX Society, Austin, Tx
Lines: 33

In article <CONRADIE.49.735390036@firga.sun.ac.za> CONRADIE@firga.sun.ac.za (Gerrit Conradie) writes:

[Much discussion about economics of safety deleted]

>Safety is an important criterium for me when buying a car. I won't buy a 
>small car like a Civic or whatever.
>
>Great = Safety + Handling + Speed  -  for me
>
>Seems to me that you would be more "dead" in a small car than a large car 
>after an accident.

This is a very simplistic view of safety. Assuming that you are in a collision
(less likely with a more agile smaller car), then the important factor
is how well does the car sacrifice itself to save you. This is why a thousand
pound F1 car can hit a wall at 200 and the driver walks out and why
everybody dies when a Suburban hits a wall at 35 (as I recall for the last
generation Suburban HIC numbers). 

As an aside, just what is the point of an airbag? It seems to me that
seatbelts with pretensioners (Audi et al), or a good tight 5 point belt 
will prevent you every moving far enough to hit the airbag. You might be

saved from some flyign glass? Or is an airbag just a lowest common denominator
safety device that is of some use in a head on collision when you are
wearing no seat belt? 

Craig
>
>- gerrit
>


