Weight does make a difference.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

A rigid safety cell that keeps bits of metal from perforating or crushing you is crucial, but crumple zones slow the sudden deceleration experienced in a collision down, greatly reducing the trauma of your organs smashing into your bones. That's the reason I want bigger zones. Seatbelts and airbags help too, of course.

[theclencher]

Odds of any of us becoming a fatality on the road are one in 156,000 years. So quit quaking in fear.

Oh- wondering about that statistic? Divide fatalites per vehicle mile travelled by average miles/year accrued by U.S. drivers.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Definitely have to keep risk in perspective.

I heard a story on Marketplace a while ago about a family in Canada that was living in a city until a child was abducted, raped, and murdered. Then they picked up and moved back the the wife's mother's home she had just inherited on a tiny island where there were no jobs because it was "safe". The husband has to spend most of the year working at an oil sands place and rarely sees his family, and all the driving they do bringing him back and forth to the airport that was many, many hours away was adding a lot more risk than they were in back living in the city (where they apparently were much happier). It's probability * consequence, not just consequence that matters.

Of course a low risk doesn't justify ignoring reasonable measures to reduce the consequences yet further, since lots of independent trials will bring out even rare events.

[R.I.D.E.]

The future is smaller cars.

The future is smaller vehicles in every class. The EPA projection for a class 2 truck with a gross weight of 9000 pounds currently, gets 12.8 MPG. With the same frontal area, a CD of .34, 1600 pounds less weight due to better design, and tires with 60% of the current rolling resistance, as well as a hydraulic hybrid powertrain, and a variable compression HCCI engine.

58 MPG.

That was projected several years ago.

Imagine what a 2500 pound passenger car would get compared to a 7400 pound class 2 truck with a 3.7 square meter frontal area.

I feel about the same when a Excursion is 10 feet behind me at 65 MPH as the Moron driving it would if he looked in his rear view mirror and all he saw was a Peterbilt grille.

Stupid drivers cause people to get killed. There are very few "accidents", only stupidity.

A guy in Germany was tailgating another car on the Autobahn, he was issued a photo summons. The fine was based on his ability to pay.

$35,000 (no misprint)

In West Virginia the maximum fine for littering is $20,000 (no misprint).

If you play stupid driver you should pay fines like those.

regards
gary

[VetteOwner]

yup or legally be able to shoot dumb drivers...

one of the main reasons i still think its THE dumbest stat that girls drive better than guys.

BS i say! i say prove it. Yea yea supposedly guys total more cars while girls just "fender bender" people. and? what about the thousands of close calls of weaving, tailgating, speeding, just generally driving dumb!

why should i be paying more insurance than a girl? I have no tickets, no accidents in 5 years of driving. YET a girl i know with same 5 years of driving but has a fender bender (more than $500 damage) and a speeding ticket STILL has less insurance than me....

cant really compare Germany to here, thier driving test is really hard, cost a massive amount to take, to own a car it costs alot, inspections twice a year, etc. not to mention in Germany if you drink 2 beers you are considered drunk. doesn't depend on body weight, etc 2 beers your drunk its a DUI and u loose your license FOR LIFE.

[dkjones96]

Girls getting cheaper insurance has always pissed me off too. I don't have anything on my driving record and my sister getting full coverage(she's 21) is only a hair over what i pay in liability only.

I've always felt that you should get qualified for a specific type of vehicle. Your preliminary license entitles you to drive a small car but you have to be certified to drive bigger or more powerful vehicles. Anything over 200hp you should have to pass an additional low traction driving test. Anything that can carry over 5 people or has a GVWR of more than 5000 you should have to pass a large vehicle test that involves a tire blow-out at highway speeds and wet road emergency maneuvers.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

I like the idea of getting certified to drive certain types of vehicles but given the current efficiency level of most DMVs, that would be difficult to say the least.

the women drivers being better drivers, I have heard that it is due to the fact that they are less likely to get into speed competition than male drivers.

a buddy of mine is a cop and that is what he has always heard. he doesn't do many traffic stops mostly drug related stuff, now he is moving on to immigration. he understands the reasoning behind the "speed cometition" argument but says the same thing we say. he just doesn't see it.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

In addition to another specialized test being required, perhaps a period of event free driving with a normal one first?

I got my license when I was 21 in MA and was amazed how brief the road test was. Needs to be much more comprehensive and over a period of time, not a one time deal.

Seems like the women and men driver ability argument isn't about women being smarter drivers on average, but about men being angrier drivers on average. From my own completely anecdotal and statistically insignificant experiences, I've had roughly equal encounters with male and female drivers just doing dumb things, but a far greater proportion of male drivers doing the very aggressive things. Not 100% by any stretch, though. I'm old enough that my rates have reached the minimum. Still rather be younger, though.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by BEEF

the women drivers being better drivers, I have heard that it is due to the fact that they are less likely to get into speed competition than male drivers.

Women and men have different gender-specific reasons for being bad drivers, and we all are aware of most of them.

Men might be more likely to get into the speed competition or some other testosterone-driven risk-taking, while women are more likely to be chatting on the phone, messing with their hair/putting on makeup (seen it far too often), etc. Women, in general (this is a trend, NOT universal), don't take driving as seriously or proudly as men, in so far as they don't get so technical about it / take pride in what conditions and problems they're capable of handling. Men, OTOH, tend to take so much pride in that stuff that they're overconfident. These are all mere trends, not universal, and chock full of exceptions and opposing sub-trends.

However, as for the insurance rates, it's pretty simple. Women cost the insurance companies less to cover. Insurance is charged by the year, not by the mile. Women drive less miles. For every soccer mom toting around 5 kids to their respective destinations, there's ten dads who are traveling salesmen or delivery drivers. For every girlfriend that drives five miles to see her boyfriend, there's 100 boyfriends driving 20 miles each to see their girlfriend.

I drive a minimum of 400 miles per week. My wife drives a maximum of 70 miles per week. If she gets in accidents 4 times as often (per mile driven) than me, she's still cheaper to cover than I am. If I'm a 4x safer driver than her, I still cost more.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

that may be where I am strange (yet again) my wife drives more than I do.

she is over a government program that has different child care sitest throughout the county. she has to do site visits which requires her to travel to each of these sites. she does get a mileage check because of it.

many times, I consider my situation the norm. that is very rarely true but I still assume that. not just in this scenareo but in most things.

the men with speed competition is just what I have always heard.