Small Cars unsafe - maybe not…

Anyone who’s semi-educated knows that one can easily manipulate statistics to back-up any story/message they want.  Perhaps I’ve found another case of this… Let me preface by saying, this is speculation, but a reasonable person would have to agree I think.

Small cars are being touted as “unsafe” in the press - for example, yesterday’s USA Today (sorry, couldn’t find the link)… but perhaps there’s another angle to the story which is not being told.  The article claims that more fatalities per million cars (of a particular size-class) are happening in small cars, versus large SUVs.  The implication is that small cars are somehow less safe than big cars, and an intuitive understanding of physics (big mass vs small mass) would tend to agree.

I’m not so sure that’s right.  I looked thru the article to see if they mention my theory, but alas no.  My theory is that perhaps it’s not a function of the car size, but rather of the experience of the driver in that typical car size that matters.  I remember that when I was learning to drive, my parents let me drive our old tiny car.  At school, most of my friends had similar — old, junky cars.  The fear was that a new driver was going to make mistakes and crash the car anyway, so why give him/her a new car.  Let him/her drive the old one.  Thus, as a general rule we all had small, old cars.

Secondly, consider that these new drivers are the least experienced drivers, and at a time in their lives when they are pushing their limits and often have a feeling of “invincibility” in their actions.  In driving, it’s no different.   Add the fact that they’re inexperienced and have a penchant for making mistakes on the road… and you have a different explanation for the numbers that the stats show.

Maybe the reason the number of fatalities per million cars is highest in the small car category is NOT because of the size of the car, but rather the types of drivers who typically get those cars.

Food for thought…

Besides, I’m of the opinion that the “name of the game” in driving is NOT to get into an accident in the first place.  If you subscribe to that behavior, then does it really matter what size vehicle you’re driving??