>>It seems like as our cars get safer, our drivers become more dangerous.
Agreed, increased performance in cars does not correspond to increased road intelligence in most drivers.
My fave is a minivan mom with kids strapped in driving like an immortal feeling teenager!
I’ve spent almost my entire life driving smallish cars (my current one is a ‘91 Miata, and it’s not even the smallest car I’ve owned!), and am forever fielding questions like:
- “Why don’t you have a rollbar in that thing?” (not until I can afford to track it; rollovers on the street are rare and I don’t want to risk a concussion from a simple rear-end collision)
- “Aren’t you scared driving that on the street?” (usually asked by people who drive SUV’s. And no, I don’t, I just have to pay attention and drive like they don’t see me, which they usually don’t)
- “You’d get killed if a bigger vehicle hit you.” (yeah, and you’d get killed in your Suburban if you were hit by a dump truck, so what’s your point?)
For the record, the smallest car I’ve owned was a Chevy Sprint. It was BETTER on fuel than a Smart (close to 50mpg on the highway, about 38mpg around town without really trying), came in at about the same curb weight, and would seat four.