What Truly Makes a Car Dangerous – The Design Or the Driver?
When cars were first invented, they were little more than what they were initially called: horseless carriages. Designers simply took an existing design that was commonly available and familiar to their target audience and inserted an internal combustion engine into it. Looking at old pictures of these first models you can see a certain innocent charm to them, as if the people designing and building them had no idea about where these new inventions were going to go, and how they would revolutionize America.
And for a while, it worked. The early engines had only a few horsepower, and thus speeds and performance of the mechanical engines were more or less identical to animal power they replaced. Unfortunately, as technology progressed, many carmakers failed to anticipate the changes new power plants would have on the frames they put them in, and accidents began to occur.
Over the decades, car manufacturers began to take into account the safety needs of their customers, and cars became safer. They were by no means perfect, but they were certainly better than their open-top buggies and wooden-wheeled predecessors.
In our modern age, car safety design is state of the art. With governmental safety standards and company reputations to uphold, automakers have to design their cars to be as safe as possible. Unfortunately, sometimes the inherent design or manufacture of a type of car makes the occupants more vulnerable to injury or death.
What even the best-designed car in the world cannot do is change the mentality of the driver behind the wheel. Some people are better drivers than others, but certain types of cars engender feelings of invincibility when normal people get behind the wheel. When that happens, accidents occur.
Common types of cars that can make drivers change their driving habits and become more dangerous include:
Sport Utility Vehicles: SUVs are commonly included on lists of cars that are simply more dangerous than others. Part of the danger is due to the driver’s sense of invulnerability that stems from their notion of driving what they believe are driving a safer vehicle, and partly due to the basic nature of the car. Studies consistently show that when people think they are safer, they tend to take more risks, and nowhere is this truer than behind the wheel of a monster SUV. Furthermore, many popular SUVs are simply large bodies attached to smaller standard frames, frames that were never designed to accommodate the differences in performance and weight distribution found in many SUVs. Basically, combining a vehicle with a narrow wheel base and a high profile with a misinformed driver is a recipe for danger.
Convertibles: Perhaps no image is more iconic in the minds of Americans of any age than that of tooling down the freeway in a convertible with the top down, throwing caution to the very wind that blows through your hair. There is no doubt, convertibles are fun and exciting, but there is also no doubt that they are extremely dangerous as well. As with SUVs, people that drive convertibles can get caught up in the experience of driving, and not pay attention to the dangers. The primary risk of any convertible is a rollover. Most cars have reinforced roofs and weight distribution to ensure that in the event it flips over, the roof will not cave in and crush the passengers. This is not the case for many convertibles, and even ones with so-called roll bars are not entirely free from this danger. Because of these factors, convertibles can make people more inclined to show off, take risks, and generally act in ways they shouldn’t on the road.
“Smart” cars: Thanks to the cost of oil, and due to the demand for smaller, less expensive transportation, micro compact cars have become a popular alternative for city-dwellers and suburbanites alike. Unfortunately, drivers of smaller cars fall prey to the same mentality of SUV drivers, in that they think their vehicles are safer, thus they drive more dangerously. Also, while SUVs have their dangers, their larger bodies and open interior space offer far more protection than a super small car. Potential drivers must balance the risks and dangers of these vehicles with the savings they provide in order to make an informed choice about their transportation.
Ultimately, driving a car is dangerous, regardless of the safety features or well-envisioned design. As a driver, you need to be aware that if you are involved in an accident because of another driver, you have rights.
For more than 25 years, personal injury attorney Bryan Snyder has worked with people facing damages, both physical and material caused by negligent and irresponsible drivers. As an auto accident lawyer, Bryan Snyder has successfully represented victims and families of those injured in Southern California.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bryan_Snyder
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Tags: design, engine, engines, wheel