What Automotive Safety Features would you like to see?

One of these days Del, curiosity is going to get you for good. How many lives do you have left?

You may have hit upon a solution Steve. Del could use a couple of spare heads from previous lives to act as an emergency blocking system. Getting a big Ute might also negate the problem if it has no tailgate. I've welded mine open with a couple of sturdy RSJs , just to be on the safe side. Fuel economy has gone somewhat downhill (as has the rear suspension), and getting past the hight barrier in car parks can be a problem.

That sounds akin to gluing the door and windows of your house closed to protect you from burglars. My suggestion is to tighten the springs and the hinges on the tailgate. Mrs Cat can use it for pull-ups (should that be pulls-up?).
N.B. that air dampers would prevent it from opening too fast.

Or you could keep a golf umbrella in the back and prop the tailgate as I do (for different reasons); or have a simple latch release (like on old gramophone lids), so you'd at least have some warning...

P.S. A man walking in front whenever you are driving and waving a red flag sounds like another precaution worth considering.

My solution was a bit extreme, but I think this was no accident. Del probably got sent shopping for Salmon, and he lamely returned home with a tin of sardines. " Oh sorry dear, this was all they had left". The satisfied look on his face would have been enough for any jury to convict him. A golf brolly in the car as well would have caused a much slower pain than the mere 'thunk' of a tailgate. " Yes, it was only there just in case my beloved". I'm only 4 hours late home because of the traffic snarl up in Waitrose. I for one doubt that Del would be so dastardly as to sneak out for a quick game, enjoy a pint, and partake of picnic on a day like today, but people can be so suspicious at times. Commiserations on your head Del, but you really should know better excuses by now. If Mrs cat happens to lock him out next time, I shall write a character reference in his defence. On second thoughts, coming from me that might make it worse.

spay or neuter, that is the question.

Probably easy to design such a thing, if there was any demand for it.

How many cats want to decapitate their toms?

The Toyota van has had this feature for several years now. If someone tries to close the back hatch it detects anything in the way and stops closing.

As for what I'd like to see as a safety option for autos... A helmet that gauges the driver's IQ, ego, and emotional age. If the numbers aren't right the vehicle doesn't start.

I like the helmet!

On top of that I think there should be a turn around in the safety devices that are put in cars. Instead of a soft cushy airbag it should be a great stonking spike. That will drop the accident rate instantly to zero.

See if you wanna tailgate me know you bastard (remark is made in general, not to anyone in specific especially not to anyone here on CR4)

Yup..the helmet is good... I've often thought the driver should be right at the fromt in a flimsy transparent cab where the road can be seen whizzing beneath his feet.

I read the other day that road accidents un UK are now about 50% of the levels in the 1960s...some stupid twit is saying they want to have 20mph speed cameras to reduce it further...have they never heard of the 80/20 rule or the law of diminishing returns....?

I'm not against improving safety, but to simply keep reducing speeds is bonkers. Reduce the speeds to ZERO.. that'll cut the accidents... yes true, but it will also cripple the country!

'it should be a great stonking spike'

Ooops! Great minds, blah blah..

Oi DEl, you are doing it all wrong man! You should give her the first bag of shopping and tell her YOU will get the rest as she is putting it away in the kitchen cabinets.

That way:

a)she does not need to interfere with challenging technical stuff such as dangerous boot lids, and...

b)the car is available sooner for your quick escape to the local watering hole where you can meet up with that cute Mrs gazelle

Mrs cat will not notice in time as she is still putting the stuff in the freezer and what have you not.

Good morning Del, tell me, did it hit you just the once? Or did it stop, go up a bit, and come down again on the obstruction? (Ie, you're cranium) Just the once could be carelessness, but twice, I'd say the alarm bells would be ringing.

And now to answer the question as posted!

What Automotive Safety Features would you like to see?

I would like to see an 8 inch stainless steel spike located in the centre of every steering wheel. It seems to me that the more safety features the manufacturers put on cars (Airbags, anti lock brakes etc.) the safer the drivers feel, so the more risks they take. Everyday I see someone doing something really stupid, only this morning there was the proverbial Chelsea tractor on the school run with 3 kids bouncing around in the back with no seat belts on (illegal in the UK) with 'Mum' on the mobile phone (illegal in the UK). Bear in mind that the latest figures from the UK show well over 3000 people died on the roads in one year! We can't blame Osama bin liner for that statistic!

I reckon there would be a bit more care taken with the potential of a big spike going right through your chest.

100/10 ! Excellent points ( and not just the big stabbing thing). Stop these ****** drivers now ! We should stop fining people (cos they rarely pay anyway) and giving them dots (cos half don't have licence/MOT/insurance) - just clip big chunks off their licence, or failing that remove wheels on the spot. Failing those options, just nail them to the front of a Ford Capri and leave it in Milton Keynes one night.

LOL...

Yeh .. it pisses me off you can get done for speeding on an empty road at 2am. But some wanker tailgating a queue of traffic (which can't get out of his way due to volume of traffic) at 90mph whilst on his poxy mobile doesn't get done.

'Hey Josh..I'm tailgating on the M4...did I leave my brain at the resteraunt? I seem to be without it.'

South Mimms service station - the point of desperation. On the other hand LFE in Leics was a bloody good larf when I was a kid. See ya there tomorrow night then.

What happens to peoples brains when they enter a supermarket car park ? For the love of anything, this one escapes me. Why do they employ some little old lady to drive round in circles, trying in vain to park the thing ? Don't even get me started about 'People Carriers' that only contain one person. I have to go because I'm on machine gun duty at the 'school run'. Make the podgy buggers walk 200 yards I say. (I still have my grouchy old man hat on).

podgy buggers ...

Is that the Mums or the kids? (prob' both...)

Perhaps what is needed is an automatic cutoff on mobile cell phones that makes them non-functional within 40 ft of moving automobiles. If the phone shut off automatically, there would be no point in being on the phone. Might make it awkward for those using phones and walking on the sidewalks, but then I think that is rude too. I've often walked down the street and seen/heard someone talking to me (thought they were lost and asking directions), but when I go to reply, they are on a bluetooth phone.

Seems like they could require cars - except exempts cars - to be outfitted so that voice and text messages could not be received, or incoming (maybe outgoing as well) would be jammed whenever a car was "in gear" and engine running. Here in Calif there's all this empty talk from legislators about passing prohibitions on teen use of cells--prohibitions that will not, and could not, ever be enforced (except maybe when the courts are running a little low on money). An approach that disables the signal would be enforceable and enhance public safety, and promote voluntary compliance.

I just remembered one of those 'strange but true' stories ; Recently I was returning from France via the tunnel. We was on the 'drive yer car on' thing. During the brief journey, some guy gets out of the car in front and goes to his boot/tailgate. My Brother and I watch in delight as the thing slowly 'eats' him. With a puzzled look he extricates himself and looks around as if to say 'who did that'. He then pushes it fully open and tries again etc etc. The first time we smiled, the second we giggled....by the time the chuffing train got to Cheriton (and something like 10 goes later) we could barely see for crying so bad. How many times can one person get beat up by their own car before realizing there is a problem !

The best safety feature would be to add some intelligence to whatever grasps the wheel. Raise driver assessment standards.

Maybe an onboard computer could administer an IQ test, which if passed would allow the car to operate. That would eliminate the stupid and the drunks from the road.

I desperately want a copper detecting device so I can carry on drinking to excess & avoid the revenue raising UTTER BASTARDS!!@!!. Quite possibly, a smell detector would work- after all the smell of these utter crap permeates in a holistic fashion!!.

Something that would stop low slung little cars, mostly driven by little minds I would guess, from pulling up so close behind a tailgate that they disappear--especially bad on rainy nights.

Rip off an elevator door sensor and put it on your tailgate.

If Mrs. Cat is trying to kill you and make it look like an accident, there's nothing you can do. Sorry . . .

Aren't those based on interrupting a signal path? So I'd have to mount something on the other car? And hope the other driver "lines up" correctly? And what would do the interrupting? If not could you tell me a quick way to rip them out?

Oh...you were talking about tail/hatch gates! Never mind.

Indeed. Many industrial machines have an infra-red beam actoss their front. Cut the beam with a body part and the machine turns off. What about one of those? 'Stinky Pete' might have one in his skip - "just fell off the back of a Space Shuttle", that sort of thing?

Are you saying Pete has upgraded from his cardboard box ? I know the property market has some peculiar shifts, but that's ridiculous. If only I'd known I'd have invested in a few boxes myself. Next thing he'll have his very own bottle-bank des-res complete with porthole style windows and a roof.

Hello all,

Now that this has played out, what do you's think is the best safety feature added on cars in, say, the last 40 years or so. The one which has probably prevented the most collisions and near collisions, and probably had the greatest $payback. I have an idea but will like to see what the astute thinkers here think, first.

Anyone?

Well, seat belts have been around for over 40 years, so it would have to be the air bag. Now, if you had said 60 years, then I would include seat belts.

What I would like to see added to all cars is a scrolling message on the front of each which can be read properly in a rearview mirror by the jerk in front of you who's driving 10 mph slower in the passing lane than the cars passing him improperly in the slow lane. The message could read something like, "GET OFF THE ROAD!"

I suppose it's between improved tyres, anti-locking brakes and traction/stability control. But it could be more universal provision of windscreen washers, raised rear brake-lights, hazard flashing lights or improved illumination. And then I've probably missed the obvious.

In my ignorance, I'd go for improved tyres (probably don't even show up in published figures, though), followed by anti-lock braking and the raised brake-light in that order

Bingo! And I can see you're one who likes to play with multiple cards!

"I suppose it's between improved tyres, anti-locking brakes and traction/stability control. But it could be more universal provision of windscreen washers, raised rear brake-lights, hazard flashing lights or improved illumination..."

Don't know if or how long you have customarily driven on freeways--I mean the big urban freeways with as many as 20 lanes and as high as 65 MPH (75 unofficial) in city traffic. [In my case it was big freeways, Texas speed limiits, AND Texas drivers.-) But, in the days before raised brake lights, rear end collisions on freeways were so common--it was about vision, not bad drivers--that total choking of freeways was virtually a daily occurrence--sometimes during both commutes. Powers-that-be studied and struggled with the problem constantly; some even suggesting lanes just for emergency vehicles--to get to accident victims and to get them to hospital before it was too late. Some even spoke of using giant copters to pluck victims, and wreckage, off the freeways. Plus, multiply the economic losses from hundreds or thousands of drivers, on one freeway alone, who could wind up being hours late to work. But when the raised stop light was introduced on a few models, it caught on like an epidemic and was universally adopted, both as after-market add-ons and in new vehicles, within only a year or two, and that was without mandate from government. I cannot recall any safety devise which generated so much demand anywhere near so fast. And did it work? Anyone who remembers the hits and near misses, and the daily dread of what's coming from behind in those days would give an unqualified yes. Indeed this invention could easily be said to have eliminated $millions (untold millions) in injury and damages that had gone on before...every day. Also consider whether any other safety improvement has done nearly so much, so simply, especially considering the almost trivial cost of high-mount brake lights. And unlike most other, more complex or more sophisticated improvements taking years or decades to adopt, no problem of diminishing return...

Great answer...I think you got them all.Well, maybe seatbelts. But those don't save you from an accident, only in an accident. And they don't keep necks from getting strained.

I don't think anyone has mentioned crumple zones yet. Taking the macho bars off the front of cars might be good too. I've never encountered a cow* on a UK road, and certainly not on the 'School run' or whilst navigating Tesco's car park. The effect on innocent pedestrians/bikers etc can be somewhat fatal.

*euphemistic exceptions apply.

I thought that cow catchers (so called) had been disallowed from new vehicles for some time. I suspect that, if you were going at any speed they, make matters worse for everyone concerned (not just for the cow).

The livestock issue must depend on where you live. I've frequently had to wait for cows and sheep on UK roads - although not (yet) in Buckinghamshire. A salesman from one of my previous companies (salesmen drive more than they'd wish) wrote a car off in Devon, courtesy of a cow wandering out of a gate that apparently a hiker had left open.

I think it is still popssibe for those of a mind to import vehicles and fit cow-catchers. Th exact nuance of law escpes me, but I think you can still but a new car and fit such. The 'why' escapes me, as does the fact that people can still rove around with these things. Observe the local traffic and you will see that for some unearthly reason some people consider the things essential in a supermarket car park.By way of similar thinking, I would like the right to carry an RPG when collecting the morning paper.

I would rather have a BFG myself, courtesy of those good souls at Quake and Doom. In fact I think it is necessary to have one, all the time, even in my car, what...I am gonna get me one now, that is a brilliant idea.

That'll teacht the little f#@k3r$ I think a bit of the MMWHAAAAAHAAAAAHAAA is called for right now.

Eating too much Quaker Oats can produce such utterances. Dietry fibre is great, but it does add to the loo roll budget. I tried All Bran for a week, and it certainly made part of me feel weak in the morning.

And seat belts have been around for more than forty years (although not commonplace, so I guess they count)

Do you remember the 'good old days' of early commercial air travel. The ones where passengers sat on free-standing chairs and had 'normal' tables. This can still be enjoyed on the Caledonian sleeper train, although you can't enjoy a smoke anymore.

I couldn't afford it back then.

But it's surely unreasonable to ban Kippers and Arbroath smokies from trains?

The best safety feature in a car is a smarter driver.

The problem with making cars more idiot-proof is that they keep making a better idiot.

The best safety feature in a car is a smarter driver.

Mwaaaaaaaaaahaaaaahaaaaahaaaaahaaaahaaaaaaaaahaaaaaa......

I've always wondered how that's spelt! Now I know . . .

That explains Plbmak's avatar too.

An automatic cheese dispenser, for head turning "Looky-Lous" at accident sites; tied to say 10 MPH. Every time they twist their heads around like "the exorcist" trick, it would chunk some cheese in their mouth. When they got constipated enough, they would quit doing that, and pay attention to the road. Instead of causing another accident, and constipating traffic.

You mean rubberneckers!

Oh god they are sooooo anoying. You just trying to get past and all they do is slower and slower and slower all the while looking at everything BUT THE GODDAMN ROAD.

I think the cheese thingy is way too slow and too forgiving. CHOMP off with the head right at that rubber bendy part they call neck.

In 1968 US cars got mandated dual brake systems, but we still have steel brake pipes, which rust in areas that use salt on winter roads. Stainless steel brake lines would be a good idea, and while we are at the stainless steel store, how about stainless steel lines for high pressure gasoline lines, which are now steel or plastic? Ever see a leaky fuel line with a 50 PSI pump working at full capacity? How about a warning system that would go off when a car was traveling too close to the vehicle in front of it, calculating speed and distance?

How bout cars that drive themselves to eliminate the idiots out of the equation all together.

How many times did mrs. Cat do this to you, before your felt that it may be a problem with the tailgate?

Collapsing onto the floor whimpering pevented the subsequent blows!

It is clear to all of us now who in your household is wearing the trousers

Drat my penchant for womens clothing has been busted

Go back and pick the important bone!

The safe word is "banana."

Damn...I was shouting 'Architrave' ...that must've been the previous week.

It could have been worse, she might have trussed you with wire flex and driven off in the diection of the Nevada desert.

Peculiar that right now this news flash should come into my inbox.

Have a read of this wired blog.

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/topheadlines/~3/181329259/is-safety-techn.html

I wonder if more safety features encourages more reckless driving. Somewhere there must be statistics on things like air-bag devices plotted against collision rate etc.

Totally agree, Saw an experiment on tv way back when I still lived in NL. They measured peoples reaction time against the perceived reaction time they realy had and found that there was a destinct link between them. When they removed trees in front of this railway crossing so your view of the oncoming trains were earlier, people would change their behaviour in such a way as to increase the risk and the "balance" was restored. Realy odd but true.

You are on to something, about 8 years ago, I saw on a news documentary, A professor at a college that evaluated how things should be such as the design of on and off ramps on freeways.

He said to make it safer driving is to install a 12" spike in the center of the steering wheel pointed right at the drivers chest on all cars. sounds gruesome, but actually he had a point so to speak.

I'll ride my bike, or skateboard or walk if that happens

I heard the spike story some years ago, related by a guy who was involved in safety issues for one of the major American auto makers. It would certainly sharpen peoples concentration. All safety design features seem aimed at protecting the driver in the event of head on impact - not much attention is given to pedestrians/bikers etc. 'Bull bar's' on a vehicle are ******* - how many people run across a bull when in the supermarket car park etc. Side impact protection doesn't seem to get addressed as much - that would help the idiot drivers, and also those they ram into.

I'm sure I've seen systems that detect if you are falling asleep too.

Do they automatically throw a blanket over you and pull onto the hard shoulder?...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Del

Hi hi, trust del to come up with the funny side to life.

Years ago I did see a little device that hung on your ear like the leg of your glasses do. You had to sit straight and set the thing. When your head bobbed tto far over for or backwards it started to buzz which frightened the living s@#t out of you so you could regain control of the car before regaining control of your bowel movement, very handy.