Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Probably because in the video, the dash, steering wheel and front seat all become crumpled together.
And again, the assumption is that any and every crash is going to be severe enough to cause that sort of damage. The fact is, now AND then, only a tiny fraction of them were/are that severe and it's easy not to have one of those, even if there are dumb drivers all around you.
I agree.. You may be the best driver in the world but if someone who is not crosses over and whacks ya head on.. There is nothing you can do.. If this happens in a 59 Imp, you die. If it happens in an 08 Malibu, you get a sore leg. Its your choice.
It's very rare we agree on anything Frankgn87, but on this we do.
You can be the safest and best driver in the world, and that will get you out of a lot of sticky situations, but when it comes to it, you cannot control other cars on the road and the drivers of those cars. Any trucker will know that there's even people out there looking to hit you, and if you get into an accident, cause by yourself or others, no matter how good of a driver you are, modern safety features and car design will save your life and your health in far worse situations than even a mid 80s car.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deez Nuttz
Probably because in the video, the dash, steering wheel and front seat all become crumpled together. Then again as pointed out, the 59's structural integrity was questionable in that vid PLUS they used an X frame full sized car; clearly the X frames were not the best thing out there at the time. How about trying the same stunt with a 60's Imperial? The driver might have suffered some shock but the car probably wouldn't have folded up. Anyone who disagrees with that should ask anyone who's ran in a demolition derby why they don't allow Chrysler Imperials as derby cars.
Doesn't matter, at speeds over 45-50 mph, the engine would most likely penetrate into the cabin and completely maul your legs as they weren't designed to slide under the car. There's a strong chance the A and B billar would buckle and possibly snap and the steering wheel and column would probably hit you full force, as it moves towards you, and you move towards it, seeing as the seatbelt itself would be less strong and it wouldn't have an automatic belt tensioner, like many new cars have (in the event of a crash). And even in the unlikely scenario, where the oncoming car hits the frame in the exact right spot, causing nothing but an abrupt stop, the G forces alone would most likely kill you, or at the very least cause severe internal hemorrhaging, which in turn, would kill you.
I don't even understand how this is a discussion, you don't actually need to crash cars together to understand this. A basic idea of very general physics is enough, or some computer generated simulations if needed.
If you want to buy old cars, by all means, do so, and yes the odds of being in a bad wreck are slim and always honing your driving skill will make it slimmer, but there's just no shred of doubt that if you get into a bad crash, you'll be (literally) decades better off in a new car, even a smaller one.
I agree.. You may be the best driver in the world but if someone who is not crosses over and whacks ya head on.. There is nothing you can do..
Sure there is. Pay attention BEFORE they get to you. Seriously, if you drive in such a way that you are paying attention to the way cars are driving around you, anticipating their motions before they get to you (or anticipating the possibility of it happening in a blind corner situation) then it's easy to avoid it when it actually happens.
The average sedan can't pull 1G laterally, so it'll take a lot of effort to deviate a fair distance from a straight ahead path at speed, thanks to a little law called inertia (like gravity, it's a VERY heavily enforced law). Bu understanding what it takes to get a car to come all the way over to a head-on crash position when approaching it, you can be aware of where IT is in relation to you, where you are in relation to a potential crash, and where you can move to to avoid anything more than a scuff, if that. If a car coming at you is drifting towards the centerline, you can calculate in your head the possible paths and where they will converge with yours, if they will. And if the car isn't drifting over, you can tell how much effort it would take to deviate radically to converge with your path. And you can tell at what point it'll be behind you (or at least not head on) if it DOES happen, and how to turn that potential possibility into a guaranteed outcome, minimizing the damage so you dont' HAVE the bad crash.
It sounds hard, but it's really VERY easy to get the feel of it, and apply it to driving with the same mental/muscle memory that the ability to consistently shift smoothly without thinking about it comes from. You can use this ability to avoid most acidents, and minimize the ones that cannot be avoided to merely minor damage.
I really don't know where you get the idea that you can't avoid/minimize the damage from idiot drivers around you. Crashing isn't random. You CAN affect the outcome even if the other person seemingly can't.
You can be the safest and best driver in the world, and that will get you out of a lot of sticky situations, but when it comes to it, you cannot control other cars on the road and the drivers of those cars. .
You don't have to control them. You have to account for them. The problem comes in thinking that you have to control them in order to avoid anything. And by relegating it to a foregone conclusion that it WILL happen, you actually remove some of your vigilance and create the situation that it will happen. It becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.
You don't have to control them. You have to account for them. The problem comes in thinking that you have to control them in order to avoid anything. And by relegating it to a foregone conclusion that it WILL happen, you actually remove some of your vigilance and create the situation that it will happen. It becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.
Your reading what I wrote wrong, and taking it out of context. If you are to account for all the drugged up, alcoholics, inattentive, angry etc etc drivers out there, you would've left the car and walked.
Like I said, being a good driver will get you out of many a bad situation, and if there's no way to avoid a crash, being a good driver will usually minimize the damage. That said, it's absolutely impossibly to drive on a highway with traffic flowing around 70 mph, 4 lanes each direction, and anticipate and account for everything that all the drivers might do.
It's not a matter of not being vigilant, looking far ahead (as an example, I generally start braking for things before the 2-3 cars ahead of me does), behind and your side, it's about accepting that you're not all powerful and accepting that even the best drivers can and do get into accidents, and if that were to happen, as small as the chance might be, it's good to know, when you buy a car, that it will do a decent job in further reducing the risk of fatal or severe injuries.
Assuming that simply being a good driver will always safe you from serious injury or death is ignorant, at best, fatal at worst.
Your reading what I wrote wrong, and taking it out of context. If you are to account for all the drugged up, alcoholics, inattentive, angry etc etc drivers out there, you would've left the car and walked.
Like I said, being a good driver will get you out of many a bad situation, and if there's no way to avoid a crash, being a good driver will usually minimize the damage. That said, it's absolutely impossibly to drive on a highway with traffic flowing around 70 mph, 4 lanes each direction, and anticipate and account for everything that all the drivers might do.
It's not a matter of not being vigilant, looking far ahead (as an example, I generally start braking for things before the 2-3 cars ahead of me does), behind and your side, it's about accepting that you're not all powerful and accepting that even the best drivers can and do get into accidents, and if that were to happen, as small as the chance might be, it's good to know, when you buy a car, that it will do a decent job in further reducing the risk of fatal or severe injuries.
Assuming that simply being a good driver will always safe you from serious injury or death is ignorant, at best, fatal at worst.
Ahhh....the dreaded "I" word. The "I'm smarter than you and know better" card.
He didn't say "always". But the fact is that, for skilled and vigilant drivers who aren't driving home from the bar at 1:30 AM, the odds are extremely long that you will EVER face the serious head-on collision scenario in your lifetime.
The big picture point being that it makes precious little sense to let crash test results make you into an automotive worry-wart and let it dominate your thought process when choosing your personal automobile.
Ahhh....the dreaded "I" word. The "I'm smarter than you and know better" card.
He didn't say "always". But the fact is that, for skilled and vigilant drivers who aren't driving home from the bar at 1:30 AM, the odds are extremely long that you will EVER face the serious head-on collision scenario in your lifetime.
The big picture point being that it makes precious little sense to let crash test results make you into an automotive worry-wart and let it dominate your thought process when choosing your personal automobile.
Who said anything about worry? And with that said, people worry far more about a lot less dangerous things than driving. (Like getting killed by a random intruder in their home or dying as a cause of an act of terrorism)
But for fun and games, tell me this: You're entering a 90 degree, blind curve, a mountain on one side (forming a wall next to the road) and a decent drop on the other side. It's winter and the road is covered by a compact layer of relatively fresh snow, you're driving at approx 30-35 mph, which is under the posted speed limit (by far). Halfway through the turn, a car comes in the opposite direction, tail end drifting heavily and the car carrying a relatively high speed. It is essentially covering the whole road, and there's nowhere to make an evasive maneuver. What do you do?
I was looking through some of my '60s car magazines. Some of the tests of those cars mentioned above have wide tires with tread. Not slicks and definitely street legal tires.
not factory. I am talking as it leaves the factory.. The factory did not supply any musclecars with sticky or wide rubber. What the mags may have tested was aftermarket tires?
maybe with slicks guys but not with the tires they came with..
Thunderbolt and I'm sure the SS Coronet came with slicks factory. Camaro I'm pretty sure was done on street tires. You're talking 500 hp and the nose wasn't even heavy.
A few nights ago, I was driving home from a friend's at around 12am, and a guy in an F150 blew the red light and nearly t-boned me on the driver's side. I saw him coming out of the corner of my eye, leaned on the horn, he braked, I didn't have enough time to stop, so I whipped the wheel to the right, my car dug in and moved over, the nose of the F150's hood was so close I could feel the heat off the engine as I went past - probably came less than a foot away from my door.
I got out of this because I was paying attention to what was going on. My car is really light and nimble, but I'm pretty sure that if I was driving a '65 Nova, I probably would still have gotten out of the ordeal intact. The guy in the F150 wasn't paying attention. If I hadn't been paying attention either, I could have been in a brand-new Volvo: I still would have a totalled car, and there's a good chance I would have spent the night in the hospital. Side impacts suck.
That said, if I'd been in the '65 Nova when I got t-boned, it would have been a hell of a lot uglier than in a newer sedan.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
