Econo box's are not safe

[hdm48]

My son got into an accident today. Some gal (talking on her cel phone) Made an illegal turn across three lanes of traffic into his path. My son was driving a Dodge neon, AKA econo-box. The other driver was driving a ford ranger, AKA trucklet.

The ranger, being broad-sided rolled over the top of a honda civic and hit the back end of a Dodge pick-up. The only one to drive away was the full size Dodge pick-up.

Well, the neon did it's job of crumbling and saved my sons life. The ranger, being hit broadside didn't fair too well. The full size Dodge got a scratch in the bumper.

Another 10 mph would have made it another story. If it were so, that neon would have gone UNDER the ranger.

What are these designers thinking? Do they think everybody drives little cars? What would have happened if he had hit a truck like mine? No neon is gonna lift 6500 pounds off the ground. Crash test? I got one for them to look at right here.

These little cars are not safe. Not just against normal size rigs, against each other.

By the way, my son is gonna be OK. And I don't know about the gal driving the ranger but I was told she was walking around and talking to the cops.

The cops did say it was her fault. But that doesn't make it better. I will pray for her.



Dave

 

[Bluebird]

Is the Ram safe?

Oo. I'm still trying to talk my 15-year old daughter to drive my rig as her first car, she says, "It's too big, I can't see over the hood. " I say, "I can't either, but they will see, hear, and smell you coming down the road!"

Glad to hear your son made it out of one - alright.

Talk on the phone or drive; park the car you moron...

 

[Philip]

Glad to hear you son came threw this with no injuries.



You are right small cars and our trucks do not mix. Just as a test one day. I rolled my wifes Intrepid up to the front of my truck. The front bumper of it touched my front tires before my front bumnper touched its hood. From what I could tell. The first thing my front bumper would touch would be the windshield. It was only 12" from it also.





If someone hits me in the side. I would go over. It is 21" from the ground to the bottom of the rocker panels on my truck. Take a tap measure and see how far any small car would go under till it touched something.

 

[BCaldwell]

Dave, glad to hear Levi(sp) is going to be ok. Bill

 

[Old Smoky]

Sorry to hear about the accident Dave. Good to hear that Levi will be ok. Why wasn’t he driving his ram?



Mike

 

[hdm48]

Thanks for the concern guys. But it was "Jake", my youngest. We (Levi and I) tried to talk him out of buying the darn thing. Now if you ask him about what he is going to replace it with, he is very quick to say "something a lot BIGGER!)

My wife drives a Suburban Ussault Vehicle (SUV)AKA Jeep Grand Cherokee. Whenever someone at her work says "those nasty,dangerous SUV's" she says "wanna go play bumper car?"

This is one reason (other than the obvious) I drive my truck. I have a very good chance of going home instead of the hospital.



Dave

 

[Pit Bull]

Very glad to hear that your son is going to be OK. The reason I drive a 7000 lb truck is for the reason you just illustrated. My wife drives a 5000 lb Toyota Landcruiser. I will pay the additional cost for fuel. To me driving in the USA is like playing football. If I weighed 150 lbs I would not want to get hit by a 300 lb lineman. I know who would win that battle. I would coach your son on his next vehicle purchase. If it did not weigh at least 5000 lbs then he would not be driving :-{}

 

[Bob Beauchaine]

Dave glad to hear your son is OK and yes I agree small is dangerous when you play "bumper" cars. In August of 01 I hit a Nissan driven by a gal who fell asleep and ran a stop sign and flashing red light. I took the front end off her Nissan - but if she had been 1 or 2 seconds faster she would have been killed and I was only going about 30 mph. All I had to do was pry my right front fender away from the tire and drive my truck home.



Ahhh the good old cell phone - they are great but more dangerous than a hand gun in the hands of a child. I see so many people who are oblivious to the world around them when on the phone.



Bob

 

[JLEONARD]

Ahhh the good old cell phone - they are great but more dangerous than a hand gun in the hands of a child. I see so many people who are oblivious to the world around them when on the phone.

. . or in the hands of an adult.

Yes, I agree... . hopefully they will be outlawed from use in Ct soon (unless using a hands free set-up). The stats show more accidents involving a cell phone than dui.



And to think that only last year a friend of mine got ticketed for illegal parking because he was making a cell phone call parked in the breakdown lane on the expressway... . go figure!

Jay