I was talking with a friend of mine about car economy & road safety.
Back before the 80′s cars didn’t really have much in the way of driving aids & electronic gadgets to keep the driver safe. The thing that stopped you becoming a smear on the road and a statistic was your driving skill.
Back in the 70′s & 80′s any biker will tell you how Volvo became a bad word as it was being sold on the fact it was a really safe car. Why was this bad? Simply due to many Volvo drivers feeling they were indestructible & as such they subconsciously paid less attention to what was going on around them. They’d pull out without looking… and that’s dangerous at the best of times… but deadly for bikes.
This has escalated with cars that now think for you, brake for you… even park for you.
If you have to do the thinking, then you’ll focus & drive safer. Nowadays people simply rely on the car saving them. This isn’t exactly a great way to reduce accidents – although it does improve survivability…. You know something? Not crashing also improves survivability….
There’s a knock on effect too. By adding massive safety features to cars, with all the airbags, crush structures, reinforced driver cells, electronic gadgets & gimmicks… you add weight. By adding weight you need a more powerful engine… and that’s less economical… and not good for the environment!
Chapman had it right with the Lotus cars. Make them light, put a smaller engine in them. You get a great handling car & better performance & economy. Top Gear even showed that older sports cars were the match for newer more powerful cars. The older cars were lighter, relied on driver skill & had smaller engines…. The newer cars needed massive power to move their bulk! Sure they are working on greener engines, but they aren’t more economical… or at least not outside of Japan. Japan knows that the best way to make a greener engine is to utilise the fuel more efficiently – which also results in a greener emission. Europe & America often go for the less economical option of simply burning off the exhaust gases again before they leave the car. What a waste! Strip the safety aids off, make the car lighter, get a better fuel burn & solve a lot of problems!
