How safe is your car?

I've seen an XU1 after it was flipped on it's lid, when the owner tried a hook turn in reverse! What a waste :’(
I'm just glad I've never found out the hard way, just how safe my cars are, as I've never been in a crash, except for hitting a crazy 'roo that jumped out in front of me in the Audi A3 8L 1.8T. Wiped out the lower valance, but easily fixed. No claim.
 
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Kangas are never any fun!
My XU1 is no where near ready for the road so will be making sure I weld up all the holes well in case it flips (lots of pillar rust), which I doubt I would ever leave opportunity to happen.
 
Rust is such a PIA! So difficult to deal with permanently. It's a killer!
"Penetrol" made by Flood is good for inside panels and rails.
Lucky there's all sorts of rust protection companies these days.
In the '70s I painted the underside and inside the guards with bitumen on my Datsun 120Y [2 door wagon, like a panel van] when it was new, as I was going to the coast skin-diving and sailing. No rust at all on the underside, but I didn't notice I had a leaky sunroof, and it rusted from inside the roof rails along the gutter pinch weld. It had gone too far to do a proper repair so I sold it.
It would have lasted if I'd known about Penetrol way back then :’(
 
According to that report ABS brakes were an optional extra for CE's. Since when?
 
Also at the time of release the 380 had a 5-star rating, it's now a 4-star for lack of things like auto emergency braking ,forward collision warning, the same kinda stuff that morons who shouldn't even have a licence need because they don't pay attention to the road.

But moving that 4-star rating aside, the protection for other road users is: Poor. Lmao. Big fat 380 gonna clean you up apparently, which has already happened once when a Fiesta drove up my ass. I drove away with minor scratches and they had to be towed/written off.
 
I'm thinking of selling my wagon this year and getting a 380 / 380 GT, need an auto, always had mostly manuals but as I'm getting old or (older) and I'm seriously considering an auto one, the 5 star rating back then was impressive and still is today, any dramas with yours in the time you have had it riggers?
 
wagonmaster said:
I'm thinking of selling my wagon this year and getting a 380 / 380 GT, need an auto, always had mostly manuals but as I'm getting old or (older) and I'm seriously considering an auto one, the 5 star rating back then was impressive and still is today, any dramas with yours in the time you have had it riggers?
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Nope. Roof lining started falling off. Got a new one. That's it in about 18mths
 
Quote the old saying. As safe as the nut behind the wheel!!!!

Now a days as safe as the road your driving on. Inadequate road systems badly maintained surfaces.

Heavier penalties, more rigorous policing, safer cars more stringent speed limits and still the deaths increase each year. Rarely if ever, do the where we are driving and the dangerous, for whatever reason, do the hopeless inadequate dangerous roads get a mention.
 
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peregrine said:
Heavier penalties, more rigorous policing, safer cars more stringent speed limits and still the deaths increase each year. Rarely if ever, do the where we are driving and the dangerous, for whatever reason, do the hopeless inadequate dangerous roads get a mention.
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Not an attack on you in any way Perigrine, but I'd have to disagree with the highlighted.

Policing isn't an issue as we have more police on the road than ever, new cars are safer today than they have ever been and speed limits are almost the same as the have been since I was a kid playing with Star Wars figures in my dads workshop. The same basic speed zoning still applies from decades ago. 60 for built up areas, 80 for non built up main roads, 100 for open country roads and 110 on freeways. If wasn't for the reductions for 40k school zones and and 50k zones in residential areas not much has changed since I was a kid.
The only thing that has overwhelmingly changed is car safety and more recently is driver training. Kids these days have to jump through more hoops than a circus performer to get their license and rider training courses are also more involved than my 1hr theory test and a ride around the block.
And as for the death increase every year, you only hear them say... "oh we've had X-amount more deaths this year than the <insert your favourite holiday break> than last year". They never seem it mention the fact that there are several thousand more new drivers(mainly teenagers obviously) on the road this year than last year and new cars to compensate. So statistically we would actually doing really well when you consider the annual death toll is similar to recent years and the huge leap in new road users which will only continue to rapidly rise... forever.
But in saying that... The authorities and government in turn like to use the media to beat up on road users to reinforce their position on road safety which in a way is their job and they do actually do a good job of it when you consider the facts above. And if i remember correctly from a few weeks ago, they said we actually had less road fatalities in 2017 than 2016. So that's a win.

But do definitely agree that roads are a big problem too. The roads out my way are really bad, they occasionally get a slap on layer of tar and gravel to cover over the pot holes they've patched over the in the last two or three years since the last time the did a slap on job. I've lost count of how many rims I've had to repair or replace.
 
All good points above, the topic is highly subjective and most certainly there are many variables and contributing factors to consider about road safety in general.
Anecdote:- I had a very unfortunate encounter with a pedestrian who stepped out in front of me at about 6.00 p.m. in June.
I reported to ACT "Fix my street" that the street lamp at the corner of my street had been previously been moved about 30 metres from the T intersection and there was inadequate lighting.
The street light was moved to it's original location the very next day!
 
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Re policing and all the other issues I raised and as indicated by me, all those items have been hugely improved. To the point that if they were
the sole contributing factors for safety, reduction in road trauma should correspond with those factors. Re speed limits, I suppose age is a
factor here. used to be 30mph in built up areas and unrestricted elsewhere. I congratulate the governments and police for what they have achieved
My point is that it becomes apparent that the problem extends further then what is being blamed. Insufficient, Inadequate and badly maintained roads.
eg: Constant accidents occurring at the same spot continuously. Mark it as a black spot and? We pay heaps in taxes, fines and fees as motorists where does it go?

Put a speed camera and a dash cam type camera at every black spot, check what is happening. Fine the wrong doers and use the information gained and fines to help correct the problem.
Not the best spot for revenue perhaps!
 
In QLD the only thing that works is police presence, which there is *fudge* all of. Fixed cameras don't work, people slow down 10-15kms and piss everyone off, so everyone speeds over the limit after because they're angry and know the camera is gone. Mobile cameras don't work. They startle people and force everyne to panic-break, again pissing people off and speeding straight after it. The only times I see everyone doing the speed limit together is if there is or was a marked car within 1km
 
I'm hearing you and agree that Black spots are a real issue, so maybe submit Black Spots to Google Maps is a way to highlight, especially for those unfamiliar with the route.
People already post Speed Camera locations on FB, but that's not going to improve overall safety....its a step in the wrong direction.
Real action to address the poor road surfaces, intersection alignment and a whole host of other factors are some ways to improve safety.
The nut behind the wheel - again....
Driving appropriate to conditions, avoiding distraction, especially from mobile use, is just a small part of the equation.
 
Driver training would do wonders instead. Skills and perception instead of logbook hours. Jesus.
 
At least the fixed cameras slow them down temporarily. the other cameras do nothing to slow down the driver if the camera is not noticed
If the car then kept on speeding completely unaware of the incident and killed himself and hopefully no one else .

We could say the camera proved to be absolutely useless, including no hope of achieving its prime objective? Collecting the fine!!!
 
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