Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
My wife walked away from a spectacular crash in a 96 850 Volvo wagon caused by a distracted driver that would have killed her in my 84 Civic wagon. And today cars are even better.
Absolutely. I still recall an experience when I was perhaps 5 or 6 years old in the early '60's. There was an auto accident just a block away from where I lived. The accident was fatal. I suppose the reason this was so memorable to me is because of the reaction of the adults. I remember seeing the sadness and terror in the eyes of my parents. A few of the parents kept all of the children away from the accident while others went to assist before the emergency response crews arrived.
Since then I have thought about this. The street was posted at 30 mph. It is entirely possible that someone was travelling faster. But it still says something about the safety, or rather the lack thereof, of the cars of that era. Solid steel dashes. Solid steering columns. No crush zones, so it was very common for a V-8 to end up in the laps of the driver and front row passenger(s). No steel beam reinforced doors. Few cars even had seat belts, and if they did they were used by very few. And the list goes on.
Today it would be almost unheard of for a fatality in an accident on a neighborhood street.
We honestly do owe a lot of this to Volvo. For many years, even decades, Volvo was the world leader in innovation and implementation of automotive safety systems. Interestingly enough though, not in airbags. GM and Ford led the way on airbags, with Volvo being quite late to the game with airbags.
There is no way that I would want to put a loved one in an older car for a daily driver, any more than I would take my grand kids anywhere without child safety seats. We have learned so much about highway safety. Why ignore it? Sometimes, ignorance is not bliss, but is the gateway to a lifetime of regrets.
My wife walked away from a spectacular crash in a 96 850 Volvo wagon caused by a distracted driver that would have killed her in my 84 Civic wagon. And today cars are even better.
Absolutely. I still recall an experience when I was perhaps 5 or 6 years old in the early '60's. There was an auto accident just a block away from where I lived. The accident was fatal. I suppose the reason this was so memorable to me is because of the reaction of the adults. I remember seeing the sadness and terror in the eyes of my parents. A few of the parents kept all of the children away from the accident while others went to assist before the emergency response crews arrived.
Since then I have thought about this. The street was posted at 30 mph. It is entirely possible that someone was travelling faster. But it still says something about the safety, or rather the lack thereof, of the cars of that era. Solid steel dashes. Solid steering columns. No crush zones, so it was very common for a V-8 to end up in the laps of the driver and front row passenger(s). No steel beam reinforced doors. Few cars even had seat belts, and if they did they were used by very few. And the list goes on.
Today it would be almost unheard of for a fatality in an accident on a neighborhood street.
We honestly do owe a lot of this to Volvo. For many years, even decades, Volvo was the world leader in innovation and implementation of automotive safety systems. Interestingly enough though, not in airbags. GM and Ford led the way on airbags, with Volvo being quite late to the game with airbags.
There is no way that I would want to put a loved one in an older car for a daily driver, any more than I would take my grand kids anywhere without child safety seats. We have learned so much about highway safety. Why ignore it? Sometimes, ignorance is not bliss, but is the gateway to a lifetime of regrets.
