Small Cars Can Kill You!
by J. D. Longstreet (6/7/09)
Buying that small car to save money on gasoline may end up costing you your life in exchange for that few dollars saved on fuel.
In a car crash, a driver is twice as likely to die in a small car as in a midsize car. Please note that the mid-size car is just one step up the size scale. So make the small cars safer, you say. Well, it can be done, but that will increase the weight of the car and, again, reduce the gas mileage. It all comes down to the Law of Physics. Here’s an example I saw on a site some time ago: Pit a 2,000 pound VW Rabbit against a 6,000 pound Hummer - and the Hummer wins every time. 53% of small-car deaths back in 2005 involved only small cars. Either a single small car crashed into something such as a guardrail or tree or two small cars crashed into each other, according to the NHTSA data. Learn more HERE.
In an article from the Wall Street Journal site titled: “Small Cars are Dangerous Cars” it is stated: “The death rate in minis in multi-vehicle crashes is almost twice as high as that of large cars. And in single-vehicle crashes, where there’s no oversized second vehicle to blame, the difference is even greater: Passengers in minis suffered three times as many deaths as in large cars.” You’ll find the article HERE.
It surely seems as if there is a concerted effort to keep this information quiet. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is trying to get this information out to the auto buying public. Hardly anyone or any other organization is, however. Why? Answer: the government.
Back in 2002 a “National Research Council study found that the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards contributed to about 2,000 deaths per year through their restrictions on car size and weight. But amazingly, with the exception of IIHS, there’s practically no one else providing information on the size-safety issue” (Follow up HERE.) Where is the: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and/or the Environmental Protection Agency, on this issue? They are unusually quiet. Could it be no one wants to rock the boat? No one wants to admit the emperor has no clothes.
The government is insisting on better gas mileage across the fleet of American cars. Today’s technology will only allow automakers to reduce the weight of the car in an attempt to reach those gas mileage figures. Oh, sure, there are some other things the automaker can do, but even then nothing much happens - except the price of the auto goes up.
Look, our feeling is that if an American wants to drive a small car he/she should be able to buy it and drive it. On the other hand if he/she wants to own and drive a large car or truck, he/she should be able to do that, as well. But, now the nanny government, the socialist government of the left, has all but taken complete control of the car making business in America and they will dictate what is placed in the showrooms for you to choose from. Obama, the new socialist president of America, has said he will insist those automakers make “green cars” Translated that means, with today’s technology, tiny little plastic and aluminum cars with outer skins not much thicker than a beer can.
So, let’s get real for a moment. Americans, for the most part, don’t like tiny little cars. So, they are going to drag their heels at buying the things when they first hit the showrooms. All that money the American taxpayer shelled out to bailout the automakers will be lost. Every penny will be gone. But, the government is not going to relent on producing those tiny little coffins on wheels. But the question remains -how to force the American public to buy them? That is the burning question. The answer is simple. Raise the federal taxes on gasoline until the per gallon price of gasoline reaches 6, 7, 8, or even 10 dollars a gallon - and keep the per gallon price artificially high and that will drive the American car buying public into those pregnant roller skates that government motors calls cars.
Well, America, the Flower Children are in charge and they show almost as much sense as they did in their heyday back in the ‘60’s. Back then, facts were annoying little things that just got in the way of their feelings. In that, they have not changed.
Common sense, which is certainly not common anymore, says small cars will get more people killed on the American highways. The Flower Children in our government had much rather save the environment (which, by the way, is in no danger from mankind) than save the lives of fellow human beings. How much sense does that make? None. But it doesn’t have to make sense if it makes you feel good. Keep that in mind when dealing with our Hippie Government and it will help you understand what is going on in Washington these days.
J. D. Longstreet
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