Conservative Pundits At It Again

[Green P1]

You are correct, sir. It goes back to that old high school formula F = M x A. When the mass is in the batteries, and not in the framework, you are increasing your chance of injury BECAUSE the car is heavier.

International Institute for Highway Safety's crash test safety brain > UNT90's crash test safety brain

[FirefightnRick]

International Institute for Highway Safety's crash test safety brain > UNT90's crash test safety brain

Not trying to be a wise ass or anything but it's "Insurance Institue for Highway Safety".

Rick

Edited June 17, 2011 by FirefightnRick

[FirefightnRick]

--Personally I doubt the weight from the battery would help protect one much.. In fact I would think the opposite.. Weight from larger steel supports and frame in larger cars do. It really isn't the weight but what that weight is and does.

We actually agree on something.

The smaller, more fuel efficient the car is, the less survivable space it has inside, regardless of how great it rates in safety compared to other vehicles in it's class. The Mini Cooper is a cool tiny compact car, with great syle, good performance, fuel efficient and it's BMW engineered and usually carries a top IIHS safety rating. But I wouldn't have my family riding around with me in one even if it got 100 mpg.

Back in '09 I posted an article from an NHTSA report in regards to Obama's 2012 C.A.F.E. standard. The link to that report isn't available anymore, but a link to the post is HERE.

What stood out to me in that report the most to me was this: For every reduction in mass of 100 lbs, which includes a .34 inch reduction in wheel track(length) and a 1.01 inch reduction in wheel base(width), that 828 more fatalities can be expected.

Rick

Edited June 17, 2011 by FirefightnRick

[UNT90]

International Institute for Highway Safety's crash test safety brain > UNT90's crash test safety brain

Prove it.

[Censored by Laurie]

Seriously, what is wrong with oil? I mean, if we were independent of foreign oil and were able to drill in Alaska, the gulf of Mexico, etc.

Finite.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

We actually agree on something.

The smaller, more fuel efficient the car is, the less survivable space it has inside, regardless of how great it rates in safety compared to other vehicles in it's class. The Mini Cooper is a cool tiny compact car, with great style, good performance, fuel efficient and it's BMW engineered and usually carries a top IIHS safety rating. But I wouldn't have my family riding around with me in one even if it got 100 mpg.

Back in '09 I posted an article from an NHTSA report in regards to Obama's 2012 C.A.F.E. standard. The link to that report isn't available anymore, but a link to the post is HERE.

What stood out to me in that report the most to me was this: For every reduction in mass of 100 lbs, which includes a .34 inch reduction in wheel track(length) and a 1.01 inch reduction in wheel base(width), that 828 more fatalities can be expected.

Rick

---My wife had a smaller SUV for a while. After driving it on a longer trip I never drove it on one again. The steering was way to sensitive to please me mostly because of the shorter length [wheel track]. Going at highway/freeway speed, that sensitivity and shortness was setting up a rollover condition. It was great in town when driving lower speeds, [no freeways here, just a loop] and easy to park but never again would I own another one.

[Green P1]

Not trying to be a wise ass or anything but it's "Insurance Institue for Highway Safety".

Rick

You're exactly right. Apologies for the brain fart.

Prove it.

Okie Dokie

[UNT90]

Okie Dokie

So your saying the government has given a 5 star rating to it's own product?

Shocking.

If people want to spend their money on this product, more power to them. Personally, I'm out.

[Censored by Laurie]

Personally, I'm out.

Bye...or bi...whichever way you meant it.

[UNT90]

Bye...or bi...whichever way you meant it.

fantasies from the compound?

[Green P1]

If people want to spend their money on this product, more power to them. Personally, I'm out.

Now that wasn't so hard was it?

[Censored by Laurie]

fantasies from the compound?

Check your PM.

/Weiner'd.

[FirefightnRick]

Two days ago on I-35W and Risinger

This fatality wreck occured late in the afternoon at a well known bottle neck portion of the freeway, during a well known time for evening rush hour traffic. Obviously, the driver of the utility truck had his/her head up their ass as there was absolutely no reason to be traveling fast enough in this location at that time of day to do this kind of damage, and it's now changed a family forever. The victim was driving a 70's model pickup, which had a lot more steel and support than modern vehicles do today and he never had a chance. This is the negligence we face every day on U.S. highways and why I will never downsize to save a few more pennies in fuel until we take driving as a privilege more serious.

Rick

Edited June 23, 2011 by FirefightnRick

[UNTFan23]

Two days ago on I-35W and Risinger

This fatality wreck occured late in the afternoon at a well known bottle neck portion of the freeway, during a well known time for evening rush hour traffic. Obviously, the driver of the utility truck had his/her head up their ass as there was absolutely no reason to be traveling fast enough in this location at that time of day to do this kind of damage, and it's now changed a family forever. The victim was driving a 70's model pickup, which had a lot more steel and support than modern vehicles do today and he never had a chance. This is the negligence we face every day on U.S. highways and why I will never downsize to save a few more pennies in fuel until we take driving as a privilege more serious.

Rick

We could slow everyone down to 55 MPH and we'll still have fatal car accidents.

When terms like "with a significant amount of force" are used to describe an event, it doesn't tell you how fast something was going. You can have two objects traveling at the same speed but the object with more weight will hit something with greater force because it has more kinetic energy. The lighter object would actually have to travel at a greater speed to match the kinetic energy of the heavier object.

Edited June 23, 2011 by UNTFan23

[Army of Dad]

We could slow everyone down to 55 MPH and we'll still have fatal car accidents.

When terms like "with a significant amount of force" are used to describe an event, it doesn't tell you how fast something was going. You can have two objects traveling at the same speed but the object with more weight will hit something with greater force because it has more kinetic energy. The lighter object would actually have to travel at a greater speed to match the kinetic energy of the heavier object.

When accident investigators try to reconstruct the scene they try to determine the speeds of the vehicles. Sometimes this can be nearly exact (curved skid marks help here). Most times however they have to make an educated guess, and this usually involves assessing the damage to estimate speed. In this case I would bet the officers wanted to confer with other qualified accident investigators to help form a consensus opinion on speed. With this being a fatality accident they are going to be extra careful before forming a final judgment and on what is said to the media.

[Coffee and TV]

I'd really like a Leaf but my commute is too high right now. I'm about 75 miles roundtrip every day. That's fine when the weather is 72, but if its 32 or 102 it'll push the battery to the limits. As soon as they get electric cars with a 200 mile battery range I'm game, especially if they're around the same price as the Leaf - 25k with the federal tax credit. The Volt right now is just too expensive. The concept is brilliant and light years ahead of a hybrid IMO, but 43k before the tax credit? Cost/benefit just does not quite work out.

[FirefightnRick]

We could slow everyone down to 55 MPH and we'll still have fatal car accidents.

When terms like "with a significant amount of force" are used to describe an event, it doesn't tell you how fast something was going. You can have two objects traveling at the same speed but the object with more weight will hit something with greater force because it has more kinetic energy. The lighter object would actually have to travel at a greater speed to match the kinetic energy of the heavier object.

I didn't say a thing about 55mph in the previous post. In fact the area it happened in it's 60. But at 4:30 on a weekday headed to Burleson southbound out of Fort Worth your doing good if you making it at 30mph because of the traffic in that same spot. I was simply pointing out the negligence and carelessness seen every day and how dangerous the road is in this country.

Rick

Edited June 23, 2011 by FirefightnRick

[UNTFan23]

I didn't say a thing about 55mph in the previous post. In fact the area it happened in it's 60. But at 4:30 on a weekday headed to Burleson southbound out of Fort Worth your doing good if you making it at 30mph because of the traffic in that same spot. I was simply pointing out the negligence and carelessness seen every day and how dangerous the road is in this country.

Rick

You had in a different post previous that said no one should be traveling 70 MPH (especially larger vehicles like the one involved in the accident), so I was pointing out that a lower speed limit does not always save lives. Until the investigators say otherwise, we don't know what speed the commercial truck was going. We also don't know the circumstances leading up to the accident; just what was in the article, which wasn't much.

[FirefightnRick]

Truck and Engine 14's extricated a person out of a tree near Cobb Park in Ft Worth this morning. He was driving in a car, wrecked and was traveling so fast it ejected him about 20 feet in the air where he came to rest in the fork of two branches The person had been there all night it is assumed.

Crazy!!!

Rick

Edited June 25, 2011 by FirefightnRick

[UNT90]

Truck and Engine 14's extricated a person out of a tree near Cobb Park in Ft Worth this morning. He was driving in a car, wrecked and was traveling so fast it ejected him about 20 feet in the air where he came to rest in the fork of two branches The person had been there all night it is assumed.

Crazy!!!

Rick

Well, if it was Cobb park, I wonder how they IDed him. Because his wallet was probably gone 10 minutes after the accident.

[FirefightnRick]

Well, if it was Cobb park, I wonder how they IDed him. Because his wallet was probably gone 10 minutes after the accident.

True

Rick