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Thu, 20 Mar 2003 20:05:10 -0500

Gordon,

The graph was interesting, but, why are "ambo's" so high on the list!?!?
Crazy driving?  Or have I misinterpretted the chart?

Phil Hoffman
EMTP

-----Original Message-----
From: trauma-list-admin@trauma.org [mailto:trauma-list-admin@trauma.org]
On Behalf Of Gordon S. Doig
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 10:56 PM
To: trauma-list@trauma.org
Subject: Re: SUVs

Bigger does not mean safer.... at least when you look at the data from
Australia (sorry, the most recent data I've played with was from
1999)... see attached graph.

Note that as size of vehicle increases, the likelihood that a passenger
will require hospitalization or die increases. Except for donor cycles.
Per 10,000 licensed vehicles, donor cycles have just as many
accidents/crashes/events of spontaneous transfer of kinetic energy  as
cars, but riders are almost 4 times as likely to sustain serious injury
or donate.

If you want to find out if SUVs REALLY are safer than cars, you need to
know the number of crashes per 10,000 licensed vehicles AND the severity
of injury in each crash. I'm sure somebody has the evidence one way or
another.

Cheers,

Gord

MIsafetytrainer@netscape.net wrote:

> More mass=bigger
>
> Bigger=safer
>
> So, if bigger is better, wouldn't it be best to toss our loved ones 
> into a  semi?  They're the biggest vehicles on the road.  In fact, 
> they pose a danager to the smaller vehicles on the road.  So, either 
> ban them, or build up all of our vehicles so everything is equal, 
> we're polluting the world even more, we're dumping thousands of 
> dollars a year into fuel, but, by golly, we're in something big, so 
> we're safe.
>
> SUVs are safer in relationship to a smaller car.  Or, or rephrase, in 
> a collision, the smaller car will likely suffer worse than the larger,

> heavier SUV.
>
> If we were all in Geo Metros, we'd all be equal.  But, once upon a 
> day, someone had a need to statisfy their ego, so a larger vehicle 
> wass put on the road.  Now, there's inequity, both in safety, and in 
> ego.  Viola, a SUV arms race.
>
> Dr. Suess had a good book on this very theme.  I'll try to figure out 
> the name of it.
>
> I'm content, and feel safe in my smaller car, that is, until a 3+ ton 
> behemouth crosses into my lane.  Then, I feel unsafe, partly due to 
> the huge grill I'm looking at, and partly due to the fact that any 
> ding-dong (no disrespect to those of you who you don't consider to be 
> a ding-dong) can climb (key word) into one of these and drive.
>
> But, I digress.
>
> Jon Kavanagh
> EMT/FF
> Paramedic Student
>
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