We are amazed at how new car safety has progressed and we now walk away from crashes that would have killed everyone just a few years ago. That doesn’t mean uninjured and it doesn’t mean newer cars are safer in every aspect: Here five ways newer cars may be more dangerous in spite of innovations.
5. They Weigh More. Heavy cars are great if you’re in one and not so great if you’re hit by one. A mid 1970’s Honda Accord weighs about 1,900 pounds and a 2018 Honda weighs about 3,400 pounds. A 2011 UC Berkeley study found that for every 1,000 pounds more weight in the car that hits yours, there is a 45%+ increase in the likelihood you will be killed. Much of the increased car weight comes from the addition of safety equipment and design.
4. They Have More Power. As cars got heavier, they also got more powerful. Speed kills! The sample 2018 Honda has a ratio of power to weight almost 50 percent higher than our 1976 example and we aren’t even talking about a performance car. This trend is present in almost every car made over the last few decades and it gets inattentive drivers in more trouble faster.
3. Tinted Windows. It seems cars have heavier window tinting from legally sketchy home done jobs to factory privacy glass on many of the newer SUVs and crossovers. Heavy tint can turn your car into an opaque object and easily block your view of a bike, pedestrian or other car. Whenever you pull out of a driveway or side street into traffic can turn into a white-knuckled affair whenever you try to merge between a couple of dark tinted vehicles.
2. Decreased Visibility. The industry calls them A Pillars and B pillars and they are prominent features and they dominate modern car design for reasons that range from rollover crash survival to aerodynamics and contemporary style. All of these reduce visibility. Cameras are more and more common in newer cars but they aren’t a reliable substitute for actual visual confirmation. Jaguar and Land Rover have worked hard to develop a way to make pillars almost disappear while you drive.
1. Distraction. Forgetting for a moment about handheld devices, cars themselves have an ever increasing array of text, visuals and menus that pull our attention away from the act of driving. The installed electronics deliver a user experience via software, and the nature of software is to add interactivity because they say “it’s easy.” When you combine built-in distraction with the other four factors, the consequences of distraction even greater.
We represent people who are injured because of the careless and reckless acts of others. At the end of the day your case can only be settled one time and you need to know all of the facts beforehand. The reason that insurance companies have paid our clients in excess of $130,000,000.00 is that we get the facts and are not intimidated at the prospect of going to trial when they refuse to follow the law. We help with serious issues that require serious representation. We are the Law Offices of Guenard & Bozarth. We have over 80 years of experience in our plaintiff’s only law firm. Call GB Legal 24/7/365 at 888-809-1075 or visit www.gblegal.com We Can Help!