Vehical saftey compared to vehical size......

[311Hemi]

So, a co-worked sent me pics this morning of an accident her brother in laws daughter had last week. A young kid ran a stop sign and hit the 16 year old daughter who was driving her parents Escalade. The full size Escalade was hit in the rear passenger side and rolled a couple times. The daughter sustained some head injuries, but after stitches is luckily fine. It could have been much worse.

Now that I have a young daughter at home myself this has me thinking....what are the facts of vehicle size and safety? At this point I feel I would not want my daughter driving anything smaller than my 3/4 ton truck....but that's mainly just off my perceived notion that bigger is better in this case. I know vehicle safety has come a long way.

Thoughts?

[Ralph Wiggum]

I don't think size has a lot to do with safety. Newer cars are designed for crashes. They have crumple zones and such in order to protect the driver. The car some out looking like hell, but in reality, the car is built to take the brunt of the force so that the forces involved in the crash are lessened on the driver.

[Scott K]

Here is an example

[Jeremy airjer W]

I'd still take the bel-air over a smart car any day!

[SkunkedAgain]

Cool video.

I'd take modern safety features over size any day. As far as bigger vehicles go, they are more prone to roll over. Most of us drove fast as young folks and most kids today drive fast (and distracted) as well. They don't realize that taking an off-ramp at 50mph could be bad. That Escalade rolling over is another example. A smaller vehicle would likely have been spun around a few times instead of rolling IMO.

My wife grew up driving an old Caprice Classic. Nothing gets the eyes rolling like making a high school girl drive a big boat. However, that car survived numerous fender benders and probably kept her out of some trouble. A more modern version of a Buick or similar car would probably have the right safety features to keep her safe and well grounded (i.e. ego wise)!