Probably because a lot of paying passengers just assume what they’re riding in was designed to be a limo like the ultrasafe state cars. If they knew they were in a low to mid-range SUV sliced in half and welded onto a coach built by the lowest bidder, they might not be so keen on it.
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Why don’t they have 2 runs, where each car separately collides into a stationary object?
Too lazy to research, but aren’t 2 cars colliding at X mph “worse” than 1 car colliding a X mph into a stationary car?
Perhaps paradoxically, no. The speed of the crash is distributed between the two vehicles. If they’re going to same speed, that impact is distributed roughly equally. Otherwise it’s always worse for the slower-moving car, since it receives more of the forces from the impact.
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Well, yeah, but I think it was more to show what a head to head collision would do. “Killing” the ONE 1959 Belair made enough people cry.
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Huh, really? A 30mph head to head isn’t the same as a 60mph stationary? Hmm the force is transferring to the other thing upon impact. I guess that makes sense, but I feel like I need a youtube video with a British person explaining it to me.
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You can get all kinds of crash test porn from the IIHS website (iihs.org) including all sorts of stationary object tests. The new hotness is the small overlap test which is particularly brutal and caused many automakers to lose their high safety rating once it was put in place.
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The state speed limit within the NY-30 is 55 mph, as shown on the sign about a mile away from the junction with the NY-30A. Google street view link: https://goo.gl/7E959g
Then, about 0.6 miles from the junction, there is a warning sign indicating that the road curves and the recommended speed is 50 mph. Google street view link: https://goo.gl/F3T7yQ
Then, about 0.2 miles from the junction, there is a warning sign indicating that a new speed limit of 50 mph is coming up. Google street view link: https://goo.gl/AdPRTF
This is followed by the stop-ahead warning sign about 0.1 miles from the junction. Google street view link: https://goo.gl/89m7JZ
Unfortunately, Nader’s trashing of the Corvair forever wiped out his credibility in my eyes. Anecdata: my parents were in a head-on crash in a '65 Corvair (vs. a 1970s Firebird whose driver lost control on a rain-slicked curve) and walked away from the crash. That trunk in front served as an excellent crumple zone. Had they been in a Vega or Pinto, they’d be dead.
Granted, the '65-'69 Corvairs had much better handling than the first generation (2nd-gen had full independent rear suspension instead of a swing axle), but even the early-model Corvair was vastly safer than the old-school VW Beetle.
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Worse for the less massive car, since it and its occupants will be subjected to larger accelerations.
There is no slower-moving car. All inertial frames of reference are equivalent.
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The pedant in me wants to point out the frictional coefficient, but it’s negligible, so yup.
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