Posted on 07/11/2017 12:48:34 PM PDT by Conserv
Last night I passed a fatal accident involving a smart car.
The smart car was rear ended and then sent flying....
eventually ending up on its side. The driver of the smart car was killed.
http://wgxa.tv/news/local/warner-robins-police-investigating-deadly-two-car-accident
Those tiny cars are death boxes. Would be okay if every vehicle on the road were that size.
You’re dealing with a car that weighs something like 1,800lbs getting hit by an average vehicle weighing, on average, 4,000lbs.
You’re going to go flying and suffer a lot of damage banging around on the inside.
Would assume you’re only slightly more safe in a SmartCar than a motorcycle.
Top heavy. It screams ‘flip me’
The short wheel base makes them very twitchy. Great for slow tight turns but as the speed increases they become increasingly unstable.
A motorcycle has the benefit of being able to get out of its own way. It’s fast and agile. Smart car is neither. It is a target.
Was that the ‘Field Goal’ or ‘Punt’ model.
If you drive a model car that has never been involved in a fatal accident, let me know the make and model.
Safer than a motorcycle but more dangerous than a Peterbuilt.
They are actually amazingly safe for their size. I hate the things, but not due to their safety record.
The only thing “smart” about a smart car is that they can save your family coffin expenses and bury you in it...
But within a year or so, she got in an accident that left her relearning to use her crushed legs for many painful months.
If she had been driving my wife's Toyota 4Runner, she would have walked away from the crash.
f=m/a
entire length of a Smart (stupid) car is 106 inches. The length of my car is 213 inches with a wheelbase of 119 inches.
One would fit entirely inside my wheelbase and two are still shorter than my car. Probably a fine car for driving on a medieval euro city’s back streets assuming your golf cart is being recharged.
Flipped on its side by hitting the curb, not the hit in back.
f=ma
“Would be okay if every vehicle on the road were that size.”
++++++++++++++++++++++
Exactly. Crash testing is done at a specified speed into a stationary wall. The opposing force is always equal to the mass X speed of the vehicle hitting the wall.
This is how a tiny car can earn a better safety rating for frontal collision than a large SUV. It’s only encountering opposing force equal to its own.
In reality, the tests should be conducted by imparting force to the test vehicle equal to the average vehicle’s weight X speed it’s likely to encounter on the road.
You’d see quite different safety ratings for these toys.
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