I recall Mythbusters doing a test (admittedly, a small sample size) of handheld vs speakerphone use of a phone while driving - and surprisingly found that the driving was better with the handheld.
I have read studies that show any call is distracting - for some reason, more so than a conversation with a person in the car. I remember once driving on roads I knew by heart, while talking to the husband and kids at home, handsfree - and missed my highway exit. On roads I’d essentially grown up on - and could have (and probably DID, a time or two) drive in my sleep.
As another old car driver one thing I notice about new ones when renting is the exterior view is terrible. Tiny rear window, the corners of the cars dip weirdly so it’s impossible to tell how close you are to something else, etc.
It is scary driving these things. I wonder how the various safety agencies track accidents in newer cars caused by terrible views.
My dad’s uncle flipped the car end-over-end and drove off with a broken finger (from the steering wheel). That was in an early steel-frame car, when they were still using design rules inherited from wooden cabs…
Also, I’ll agree that I get very-poor visibility from my modern sedan.
FWIW, one of the points about pickup-trucks was that commercial vehicles didn’t get the same safety regulations as passenger cars. Cab-over-engine White Vans were the worst: unstable, no protection, exposed position. Situation would have been even worse, but also underpowered, and driven by guys with many hours of driving experience.
I would have said that the biggest improvements were from the mid-sixties onwards, with seat belts, airbags, less dangerous steering columns and the first attempts at crumple zones. These days most cars are designed with a passenger cage and crumple zones, and these have been improved. Also to cope with asymmetric impacts, i.e. a car hitting an obstacle on one side only instead of just head-on. But some SUVs and offroaders still do badly in such tests.
I would say that the biggest difference between 1998 and 2018 is that the technology that was available in 1998 is now available on the small and cheap vehicles as well. My guess is that we will have to run through that progression again if the Chinese and Indians start exporting cheap econoboxes, but might guess is that on this side of the millennium the average driver wants the safety goodies.
The various forms of stability control do make a difference, and they have been improved incrementally. But a lot of the latest gizmos such as cameras are peripheral to actual driving, and things like lane guidance do not always work. However, I would suggest that the accident rate would decline far if it was not for a wetware problem; the morons who text on the move.
In theory, things like automatic braking when a danger is detected are a good idea, but they are a menace to following cars if they brake hard at the wrong time. Also, drivers would get careless and leave it to the automatic system. Again, it is technically possible to have a self-driving car right now that the driver only needs to monitor and intervene in an emergency. But will they react quickly enough? One of the big problems with self-driving systems is that they have no advance warning of a situation where someone steps out from behind an obstacle and is only seen when it is too late. In general, I don’t think ANY self-driving autonomous vehicle is to be trusted. Ever.
My guess is that one day cars will be fitted with an equivalent of the TCAS collision avoidance system used on aircraft, but it will only really be effective if all vehicles have it. It is technically feasible now.
I agree. The older ones had a much better rear view. And it was much easier to position the car, especially in confined spaces, because you could see the engine hood and the back of the car. In modern cars it dips down for safety reasons, and you feel like you are driving a picture window, which gives you no reference for positioning. This is made worse by higher side windows. At least parking is easier if you have cameras and/or distance warning for the back and front.
The shape is mostly driven by fuel efficiency goals, more than by safety. But yeah, I agree, I hate the visibility of many modern cars. My SIL once bought a Prius without a backup camera. How the hell can anyone park that thing? My brother hated it. They didn’t keep it for long.
My wife’s backup camera is wide-angle enough to help with this (2016 VW GTI). Also, we test drove a car that had side-looking radar (?) to alert you about other cars in that blind spot; I think it was a Mazda, so not a high-end car.
That’s among the reasons miles driven have increased. But not a reason fatalities per mile driven would have increased. Total car crash fatalities have increased in recent years enough to easily see on a graph. Fatalities per miles driven are basically flat on a graph but looking at the actual numbers it’s gone up slightly. The minimum per NHTSA was 1.08 per 100 mill miles in 2014. In 2017 it was 1.17, highest since 2008 (1.26), seems on track to decrease a few .01’s in 2018. 1998 was 1.58.
Cell phones, demographic changes, substance abuse trends and ? factors are competing with safer cars to drive that number up or down. But safer cars could never directly counteract an increase in deaths because people drive more due to having jobs or gas being cheaper, or there being more people in the US.
Oooh - that sounds interesting. We’ve rented cars quite a few times this year and they all have backup cameras - but it’s anyone’s guess as to where the front of the car actually is. I’ve been wanting something like a front-facing parking camera for years.
Surprisingly few cars have blind-spot assistance. I rented one in 2012 that did. The Kia Sorento I had just after Thanksgiving did. The Chevy Equinox I had in June and again in late September did not (not same car, but same model). The sedan (I forget the model) we had over Labor day did not. I think the Ford Expedition did but I may be misremembering. The 2 cars we rented in 2017 did not (though the sedan was a Toyota that had smart cruise control that would slow down if it approached the next car too closely.
Visiblity: yeah, that’s a problem in a LOT of new cars. Typo Knig just did a fair bit of travelling and rented cars every week. This last trip, they gave him a Mustang. He now says he is the only guy in the US who does NOT want one of them - the visiblity was so screwy.
Another issue we have with newer cars is that they all have the fancy interfaces - and they’re ALL DIFFERENT. I know I had a hell of a time figuring out the climate controls on that Expedition. Prior to the past 10ish years things had evolved to be relatively similar no matter what you drove - but now every manufacturer does its own thing. There’s a learning curve every time we rent a car.
And why the hell are cars still using the foot-pedal parking brake?? You have to squirm to get your left foot in position. Since cars now have consoles in the middle, there’s no place for the parking brake on the floor between the seats. My CRV has a lever on the dashboard; a CRV a year newer went back to the foot brake. My brother’s Focus has a little switch in the console - that once I figure out, was very easy to use. The Expedition’s brake was a foot pedal and most of the time, I had to open the door to be able to get into position to press it.
I have no trouble parking mine. Yeah the back windows are not well designed, but there is no real space between the window and the end of the car, so parking a Prius is a lot easier than older cars with trunks that jut out.
Our new CR V has it, and it was very handy in doing lots of interstate driving. But blind spot assistance is only for blind spots. In the passenger seat, where I could see the light that goes on in the mirror when you are next to another car, I was surprised at how late the light goes on. You still have to look at what you are doing.
Well worth the extra money the upgrade cost.
As a proud Graduate of Marquette Senior High School; Class of '78, yo! We only had one Memorial in our Yearbook. Dude found out what happens when you squeeze a shotgun shell in a vice until the primer detonates. Heavily wooded and rural. 428 members of my Senior Class and, with '70s cars along with snow for 5 months a year; we managed. Cell phones are an absolute distraction.
Huh, I’ve used foot-pedal parking brakes, center console hand brakes, and a foot-operated button. I like the foot pedal. It’s intuitive. Near the regular break. I’ve never found it awkward to use, and I’m trying to imagine how yours was placed that it could possibly be awkward.