[geeks] Mac definitions

[Bob]

>Its not just memory, its well recorded statistics: the common accidents
>aren't the killers they used to be.

The driving could be different too.  I remember when the official
position on 55 being safer than 65 for less highway deaths until some one
pointed out that 55 was put in to "save gas" during the oil crisis in the
70s and because of the increased price, less people were driving and
that's what lowered the highway death rate.  When adjusted, the
difference wasn't as much as hyped. 

>I'm talking about the accidents that used to commonly cause injury now
>often just don't. The car is taking the hit.

That's way too generalized.  Even wearing seat belts to not wearing seat
belts could make that difference rather than the car.  Depends on the
accident.

>I think its obvious most are better, outside of some really poor
>mechanism designs that have come out.

Unfortunately, true.

>It was a long time before most belts were even tested: no one even knew
>if they worked or not.

>Having talked to the people who see the end result of this stuff (cops,
>hospital staff, etc) they all say that failures in the saftey equipment
>are less now, in spite of obvious problems like premature air bag
>deployment, etc.

I would certainly hope so.

>> and more likely to stretch which is what brought air bags
>> into the mix.

>Don't think so.

I remember at the time air bags came out, there were a number of magazine
articles talking about seat belts in horrific highway accidents that
stretched and never went back to their original shape so air bags were
the solution to this "problem".  Could just be organized hype to promote
them.  I do remember a time where the belts on some cars were unusually
narrow but I haven't seen that for a while. 

>> ABS wasn't necessary because people learned to pump
>> their brakes when there was good driver training.

>Pumping your brakes doesn't make them perform as well as a modern
>braking system.

Well, I can't pump my brakes as fast as the system can but the times I've
used a car with ABS I've only had it activate once so it's not an issue
with me.  Maybe I drive more conservatively than most people. 

>Also pumping your brakes was not just a driver skill for traction
>issues, it was to overcome serious problems with earlier brake systems.

I've driven cars with mechanical brakes, power brakes, "power assist"
brakes but never got into a skid that I couldn't get out of.  Again, I
may just drive different.

>>When I learned
>>to drive in the late sixties, I used a professional driving school and
>>the instructor took me to a local park whose road was glare ice and
taught me
>>how to drive under those conditions.

>That's good, but we need even more than that.

Both my sons had the "driver training" to get their license and it was
nothing much at all.  What they did, I had covered in about three
lessons.  I don't remember how many I had but the instructor made sure I
know what I was doing, even with distractions in the car.  The weird
thing was, I learned on a '65 Dodge and took my road test in a new '68
Mustang which I never drove before.  Nothing like screwing with your
head.  I passed, first time too.

>> Most high schools have no on the road training because they can't
afford
>> the insurance on the driver's ed car
>> even though, according to insurance company records, they are the
safest
>> cars on the road.

>Not sure how that is possible. Around here at least you cannot get a
>license without a minimal number of on the road hours.

You still have to go outside the school to get on the road training.

>Regarding insurance: it would not about safety, it would be about the
>damage a student is likely to do to the car. But again, everywhere I
>know of still requires road time for a license.

BS.  It's about the odds of having an accident with that car with so many
new drivers using it, not the actual driving record.  I don't what they
do today but years ago, I had a friend that worked for a company whose
only business was to collect accident data, organize it and publish a
book that was sold to insurance companies so they had the numbers to base
their rates.  (That's how I know about the driver ed cars)  There was a
bit of a scandal a few years ago in NJ where a fly-by-night insurance
company was taking cars that were "totaled" and using them to create
accidents in certain areas to drive up the rates.  Most of the insurance
is not what you do to your car but what you do to some one else and their
car/property.  Last winter, we had a drunk driver hit a tree in our
backyard (he must have been drunk, he missed the house) and because he
was uninsured, we had to pay for what he damaged. It's all odds.

>...and yet police, military, and racing teams use simulations all the
>time to greatly improve their abilities.

I bet their simulators are better than the low bid crap we get plus the
people using them are a bit more serious about the training. :-)

>It obviously works if you try to make it do so.

No s**t.  Driver ed courses in most schools are a joke course anyway. 
"What does the yellow light mean?"    "Ah...hurry up and beat the red?"

I've had seniors in one of my classes that had more accidents than I've
had in since I first got my license in '68.  And they don't think there's
anything wrong with it.  (groan)

Bob
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