Topic: SUV’s…. the killing machines.

[Snowman]

WTF…I did not know SUV’s drove themselves. How is it possible that an inanimate object be blamed for the stupidity of the driver?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/tipsandadvice/11/03/backover/index.html

[ovr50]

If you have a larger blind spot to contend with, a thinking person would take the extra steps needed to check for children. Course it's far easier to legislate something to take the responsibility away from ppl.

Maybe we could talk about farm machinery being it is Killer Machines also. Lots of kids and adults too have been hurt and killed by tractors, balers, augers, combines, etc, Maybe even ban farming at the same time - save trouble of doing it twice.

CNN - Blah.

[jeeper]

there are a couple of other machines that are killing machines either...even cars can be killing machines the same way as SUVs...i think they lost their mind :S

[mdxtasy]

"legislation requiring the U.S. Department of Transportation to issue regulations aimed at reducing accidents that frequently kill or injure children in cars."

Why don't we just introduce legislation requiring the DOT to issue regulations aimed to reduce/prevent ALL types of accidents injuring any person/dog/cat/bug/bird?  I should be a politician....where's my $144K/yr?   

Technology can help only so much...but for the love of God people....watch your children!  If you know somebody's backing up a vehicle (large or small), WTF are you doing letting a kid run up the driveway? 

[The Mighty Duck]

This scared me:

"If we take the attitude that any new technology, down the road, should just be mandated because it saved a few lives," he sad, "that is very dangerous public policy because you just start pricing vehicles well beyond what a lot of people can afford."

Not that I neccessarily agree with mandating technology (for reasons cited here), but it sounds so heartless...  sacraficing lives of children in order to keep car costs down?  Yikes.

[G0dspd]

   Some people need to realize that it's not the vehicules (of any kind) that kills people ... it's the persons who uses them. 

[safristi]

I say what were the little bastards doin' sucking on my Cayenne Tailpipe.......shhesh...tripe stories everyday...to amuse and fill in space and time on the relentless CNN 24 hours NEWS BABBLE.........
    NEWS FLASH....Avian Flu gives Snowie tha BIRD !!!!.....shuttlecocks found on SpaceLab......!!!


     

[Sienna Stylin']

Howabout we legislate parents keeping an eye on their kids?

Or legislate kids with brains so that they don't run/stand behind moving vehicles.

[sirAQUAMAN64]

This scared me:

"If we take the attitude that any new technology, down the road, should just be mandated because it saved a few lives," he sad, "that is very dangerous public policy because you just start pricing vehicles well beyond what a lot of people can afford."

Not that I neccessarily agree with mandating technology (for reasons cited here), but it sounds so heartless...  sacraficing lives of children in order to keep car costs down?  Yikes.

I partially agree tho. Technology needs to trickle down over time to be affordable. Before, if they made all cars like a Volvo (before they went all luxury) many wouldn't have been able to afford one!

[Bullet Blue]

I'm not an overly huge fan of SUV's, but common sense tells me that the driver behind the wheel should be responsible for when the vehicle is in motion. This isn't Herbie the love bug that has a mind of its own, it's the drivers that are in control.

This is like saying, that the baseball bat is responsible for those who hit people with it, accidental or not

[quadzilla]

Interesting stats on how far away the cone is when you can actually see it.

Now I can actually see (no pun intended) both sides of this issue though. 

If you do check your blind spots and proceed to back up and then a child runs between cars to end up behind your car the odds of seeing them are very slim.  Given that its now dark at 5pm it only adds to the issue.  Personally I try not to walk behind a car in a parking lot because I know a lot of drivers do not check before backing up.

Normally I back into my space but just last week I didn't for some reason.  I went to back out and after checking twice I still almost hit two people that thought it was safer to walk behind cars instead of the sidewalk that was in front of my car.  Throw in a Van/Suv parked beside you and it takes even longer before you can even see into the road/parking lot.

The number of parents I see in parking lots that just let their kids run to the store makes me sick!

It takes both sides to make it safer. 

[wing]

Check before backing up?  I check WHILE backing up, as in I do not look forward at all........

[quadzilla]

Yes but if you are looking over your right shoulder you can't see to the extreem left.  So when you are looking to the extreem left, you can't see the extreem right.  Repeat.

[wing]

Yup, repeat often, and back slowly, you should see in your peripheral vision.  Those SUV's are killer though.

[Bullet Blue]

Yup, repeat often, and back slowly, you should see in your peripheral vision. Those SUV's are killer though.

Literally

[mdxtasy]

A backup camera is the single best feature on the MDX.  If a car is bulky like that, this thing saves so many 'close calls' and 'potential accidents'.  I've saved a kids life when we first bought the MDX.  Cold December evening, went grocery shopping, everything was find and wife and I were going home.  Back up and kid of about 7 runs with a shopping cart right behind me.....guess momma told him to go return it.  Without the camera...I would have smoked him for sure.  That single incident alone was worth the $5000 that the tech package cost me.

[safristi]

Ahem!!! fer $500 there is better things ta SMOKE!!!!....think Meow & Poopoo head...fine B.C Herbs.......JUST WHAT IS the attraction @ yer rear end Md......?...?... HOLEY SMOKES...NO Wunder there is a line up in yer DriverightinTimways...........

[wing]

Should have asked them for the 5k back )

[G0dspd]

People have been backing up without cameras or proximity detectors for decades.  I'm sure these systems may cause less accidents put I don't really see the need for it personally.  Good thing for that kid you had one. 

[mdxtasy]

People have been backing up without cameras or proximity detectors for decades.  I'm sure these systems may cause less accidents put I don't really see the need for it personally.  Good thing for that kid you had one. 

Nobody needs these things....it's a nice to have and it's VERY convenient.  When you have numbers like this:

The cone had to be a little over 18 feet to be seen from the driver's seat of a Dodge Grand Caravan minivan and it was invisible up to 25 feet from the back of a large Toyota Tundra pick-up.

From the driver's seat of a Chevrolet Suburban, a large SUV, the cone wasn't visible until it was 46 feet, nine inches away.

For a shorter driver, the blind spots are even larger.


18ft.  25ft.  That's a very long distance.  Every little gadget helps.  The cars/trucks/SUV's nowadays are bigger and more about style over function.  Smaller windows, higher beltlines....none of it helps visibility.  Technology can help right some of those wrongs...

People HAVE been backing up without a camera for decades....but what's your point?  People also rode horses and travelled in wooden wagons as well....society progresses.