It's Official: SUV owners survive crashes 50% better

[*ebony*]

the EPA doesn't have the authority to regulate fuel economy and the standards are actually CO2 emissions standards.

that said increases in vehicle fuel economy save consumers money over a vehicle's lifetime, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create jobs. yay!

all that can be done, but as long as there is money to be made/had who fucking cares about all that. There are plenty of resources to utilize and if our efforts were focused more toward researching/utilizing sustainable energy sources, something without harmful byproduct, whose product can be recycled.

This is amazing, and its been YEARS since this was made public...

 

[Smurfy]

SUVs are mainly safer because they are bigger than other vehicles, although to a slight extent it also because they do better in crashes w/stationary objects.

if everyone just keeps buying heavier vehicles in an endless race to exploit other drivers, drivers will be less safe overall because collisions will occur with continually increasing force, not to mention the loss of maneuverability increasing crash frequency, while the marginal benefit of stationary object collision safety diminishes.

if we all drove smaller cars, we'd be a little less safe in stationary object collisions, but a lot safer in car to car crashes because crumple zones would have less energy to absorb. we'd be safer overall.

there is a cutoff with downsizing too because at some point you aren't safe enough with common obstacles people hit like deer or barriers and it outweighs your v2v benefits.

but the right direction currently for overall driver safety is still towards downsizing imo.

as a policymaker i'd push for smaller cars, as a consumer i'd push for bigger. luckily we have government to save us from tragedy of the commons

sounds like you wrote a paper on this in college

 

[Smurfy]

i forgot that ebony is no longer black, she's GREEN

 

[PICK3]

if President Obama gets his way, they could rise to a fleet average 60-plus mpg by 2025

How Detroit Can Still Wring Higher Profits From Better Fuel Efficiency | BNET

 

[nimbus]

Gas guzzler taxes for cars that don't meet standards.

obama had nothing to do with the gas guzzler tax so i don't know why you brought that up in response to Pick3's link




as an aside, yes, you always have to worry about equity issues with taxes like that. but in the case of the gas guzzler tax, it's pretty much only high performance / high luxury cars affected - vehicles that poor people weren't going to buy anyway

 

[nimbus]

sounds like you wrote a paper on this in college

masters in transportation technology and policy, so sorta

 

[nimbus]

all that can be done, but as long as there is money to be made/had who fucking cares about all that. There are plenty of resources to utilize and if our efforts were focused more toward researching/utilizing sustainable energy sources, something without harmful byproduct, whose product can be recycled.

This is amazing, and its been YEARS since this was made public...

electrolysis requires electricity. electricity generation usually has harmful byproducts. i bring that up because there's never any easy solution that makes all our transportation fuels problems go away.

But i agree with the part about needing more sustainable energy sources. And believe me, tons of resources are being dumped into alternative fuels research and subsidies

 

[*ebony*]

sure it requires electricity, and you still end up with some unwanted byproducts, its not perfect, but if it passed safety tests, works just as efficiently....I think just by converting/replacing only a 10th of the machines in this country, still would make huge difference.

 

[*ebony*]

i forgot that ebony is no longer black, she's GREEN

hahaha,

I just think solutions to problems we create/bitch about are the easy part, but habitual creatures that we are, change is the hard part even if its painless.

 

[PICK3]

I want a Hummer