"f150_351m" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip>
(my original posting) > > Remember occupants of vehicles are not injured by the collision with > the other > > vehicle, but in the collision with the vehicle they occupy (assuming > they are not > > ejected). Big heavy vehicles are less forgiving, in part because of > the weight > > differential. A 75 kg adult weighs about 10% of what a very small > economy car > > weighs, but about 2% of what a large American SUV weighs. > > I think your physics is off. The second collision is when the driver > (still moving) hits the inside of the car, which is stopped by the > accident. It is the driver hitting a stationary object at that point. > Nader talks about this at length in _Unsafe At Any Speed_. Car > weight makes a difference in accidents, but not in the way you state > here. > In another post, you cited this URL ( USNHTSA) http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/regrev/evaluate/808570.html Please note in first table that when a car hits another car, the probability of fatality is *reduced* if the car is 100 pounds lighter. In the second table, the same *reduction* in fatalities is expected when a truck is lightened by 100 pounds and hits a passenger car or another truck of similar size. If I am going to be iin a vehicle in an collision with another vehicle of a similar size, I want both those vehicles to be smaller, rather than larger (others things being equal, e.g. speed, crashworthiness, safety devices). If I weigh 10% of what the "stopped" car weighs, it will give 10% when I hit it (and I take 90%). If I weigh 2% of the "stopped" light truck, then it takes only 2% of the second collision (and I take 98%). I still prefer my odds in the lighter vehicles colliding. So, if the American love for larger vehicles is based on escalation of weight for safety, it's a self-defeating philosophy. Eventually you end up smashing Mack trucks into each other (as the escalation continues), and survival rates will fall. More worrisome is the trend for rollover fatalities. Going again to USNTHSA, check out: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/2002annual_assessment/rollovers.htm The insurance industry has taken note. http://www.4insurance.com/auto/suv.asp Darryl McMahon Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
