Vehicle safety features a danger?

So you'd rather see a return to the days when thousands died on the roads because they got impaled by their car's steering column in a 30mph impact, or got thrown out of the car through the plain glass windscreen due to them not being belted in getting cut to ribbons in the process then being run over by another car, or possibly even their own car, or not being able to stop in time?

Don't get me wrong, I can sort of see where you're coming from with this. Sir Alec Issigonis famously said "Give drivers margins and they'll just use them up" but you'll have hard time convincing anyone to remove proven safety features from vehicles now.

And what exactly is supposed to be wrong with making ABS compulsory on motorbikes? LJK Setright was saying exactly the same thing 30 years ago.

The fact that most people display poor standards of driving isn't the fault of the car any more than the crap they show on TV being the result of improved audio visual technology.

EDIT:

I still tend to go with the ABS on bikes idea, sorry.

If a wheel locks on a car it can be an inconvenience, but a locked wheel on a bike means an inexperienced rider will go down big time.(and we ARE talking about inexperienced riders at 125ccs, aren't we?)

I don't doubt an experienced rider may be able to better modulate the braking force to the point of lock up than a casual or new rider, but given the potential risk involved in locking a wheel on a bike (a bike with a locked wheel will go down a hell of a lot faster than one simply left to fall over naturally) I think ABS is a good thing, so long as it's correctly set up and defensive riding/driving methods are still being taught.

Apart from driving on fresh snow, I cannot see ANY advantages in being able to lock a wheel while braking.

At the end of the day, while I love old cars for their character and style I'm always very aware than when I'm out in my 40 year old car, if anything happens I could get badly hurt or even killed in a shunt which in my modern Jag would cause me no more pain than the loss of my no claims bonus and a stiff neck for a few days, so I'll have all the safety features going thanks.

Good question. :)

How about this for a new safety device, reverse polarity magnets in the car's bumper. Just have to figure out how to turn them off when the car isn't running. I guess if it was electric that would work(and be about the only way to make them powerful enough). Hear me out on this though, the North or South would be in front and the other in back. Now the metal poles could be an issue, but if you put it in the middle of the bumper only it may still work. The idea, if it could be worked out properly, would be that you COULDN'T tailgate, because your car would be pushed away from the one in front of you. I'm not sure if you could do it, but since we are doing everything else to stop accidents think of this stopping people rear-ending others. Back to the question at hand though(and don't even ask me what my idea really had to do with it, it was more a random thought). Yeah people figure the cars will do the driving for them so they stop learning HOW to drive properly. They are getting dumb. Do I think that's the safety features fault? No, I think it's the instructor's and the test giver's fault. Give a hard test and fail properly. Don't be trying to get more money by giving anyone who is even half-decent a license. As to ABS on bikes, I don't bike so I can't really respond.

It's more than just safety equipment. The standard safety features on cars are great and help save peoples lives. The real danger is the driver. Ultimately the driver makes the decision to change lanes without looking or tailgate the person in front of them. This is directly related to distracted driving and they way they are taught to drive. I believe driving Ed should be taught at every school because lets face it, we have parents talking on the phone, eating, putting on makeup when they drive, and that rubs off on the kids as ok! Stuff like blind spot monitoring will never be standard safety features and the required safety features we have are truely safer thats why we have them. As far as more motorcycle accidents when seat belts were made mandatory, I say BS. I'd like to see a link to that article or statistic... Did you know there is a direct correlation between higher ice cream sales and an increase in rape? This is also proven...just because there is a correlation does not show causation. Both those cases are ludicrous.

I can't go with drivers taking more chances just because safety in cars has improved, nobody wants to be involved in an accident but they do happen which is why the safer the car the better as far as I'm concerned. Bikes have always been different, just due to their nature and design there is always more risk to the rider when involved in an accident simply due to the fact there is no shell around the rider but it's just something you have to accept.

I must admit I have noticed an increase in erratic driving in recent years and I don't know why but I don't think it's due to cars being safer and people thinking they can take more chances, I still maintain everyone would rather not be in an accident and would still try everything to avoid it.

Sorry. While you are right in that drivers are becoming far less skillful

than they had to be formerly, (Most don't even have a clue how to handle a skid anymore,

let alone a blow-out), the over-all improvements in handling and protections do

save lives on the whole..

Believe it or don't, cager awareness of bikers has actually improved over the years.

I think what you're seeing is more distraction by all the gadgets now commonly installed

in the average car: Cell phones, GPS Nav., complicated entertainment centers etc.

There heads are up their electronics and not 'in the road'.

There is a move afoot to ban the first, and ought to be one to restrict the last.

There was a nice Ogri cartoon years back. A Ministry of Transport guy was demonstrating the latest "safety bike" that had run-flat tires, a roll cage, airbags, fire extinguishers, flashing lights on top and probably ABS. On the test run he hit a bump which caused the airbag to deploy, so he couldn't see where he was going and fell over. Then I think the fire extinguisher got him in the face, and an oncoming truck was dazzled by the flashing lights and ran him over. Ogri shakes his head and rides off into the sunset on his old unmodified Vincent.

I've not tried ABS on a bike myself, but it sounds like a good option. Offhand, I can't think of when I'd want my front wheel to lock up, and I know that in unexpected situations I tend to apply too much rear brake and skid the rear end. Not an issue in normal riding, even braking hard. Maybe I need to get a friend to keep leaping out in front of me, like in the Clouseau movies

best safety device for everybody else EXCEPT the driver is a 2ft spike that springs out of the centre of the steering wheel if the car runs into anything when going forward or backward faster than 5mph

(one thing I think you got wrong

a tyre JUST rotating (ie. cos of ABS) has more braking efficiency than a non-rotating (i.e skidding) tyre, no matter what vehicle or weight)