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Subject:Re: Vanagon crash safety - Final Answer!
From:Chris Mills
Date:Tue, 9 Apr 2002 12:39:18 -0500

It's a shame that they only crash test a vehicle and never test it for
handling capability.

So many vehicles on the road today in the US can take a crash but if they
could avoid a crash in the first place with good suspensions, tires, and
brakes the driver and their passengers would be MUCH, MUCH better off.

And of course some driver training would be a worthwhile requirement too.
Most drivers out there are simply awful. Maybe with some training they
would realize that many of the cars on the roads today (modern cars) are
accidents waiting to happen.

We had a pileup recently in north GA on a busy morning commuter morning
blamed on fog - many cars involved - several deaths including a friend of
my Mother-in-law. The local news interviewed a driver involved in the crash
on the scene (and we know that somehow the densest persons always get
interviewed) and he tells the story of how he's running along at 75 mph,
visibility is terrible, and then wham! he crashes - no where to go to avoid
the accident.

Ah fellow? Why were you running 75 mph in a fog?

Typical driver. I've got friends and a couple of family members who think
nothing of flying down the road at unreasonable speeds in inclement weather.

It's not just the vehicle that contributes to the accident and it is not
just the vehicle designs that need improvement - it's the inept drivers we
share the road with.

It's people like these that make so happy that the 1950's vision of the
future of flying cars for the average person never came to reality. I don't
like sharing the road with these boneheads - let alone have them flying
over my house!!!

Chris M. <Busbodger - "TEAM SLOWPOKE">
Cookeville, Tennessee

ICQ# 5944649
scm9985@tntech.edu

'78 VW Westfalia (67 HP -> that is...67 Hamster Power)
'65 Beetle - Type IV powered
'99 CR-V AWD station wagon
'81 CB900 Custom moto-chickle
2.5 Corvair engines for my Trans-vair Conversion