Re: Fuel Efficient Cars (was Oil Economics)

From: Alfio Puglisi (puglisi@arcetri.astro.it)
Date: Sat Feb 08 2003 - 04:47:03 MST

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    On Fri, 7 Feb 2003, Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:

    >
    >>
    >>> That is part of what I was getting at when I said that micro cars
    >>> lead to a different style of driving. 'Aggressive' drivers won't
    >>> last long in a micro.
    >
    >> I guess here in Italy we are all going to die :-))
    >
    >Alfio makes a good point: the traffic fatality rate in Italy is
    >about 12 per 100,000; in the US it's about 15. So "safety" can't
    >be the primary explanation for the absence of micros from the US
    >market. Perceived safety, perhaps.

    In a mixed environment of SUVs and micros, big cars have a safety
    advantage, since they'll receive a relatively smaller amount of energy in
    a car-car collision, while the small car will have a much more difficult
    job.
    When almost all cars are of the same size, there are no safety advandages:
    bigger cars will take a lot of energy before crushing their occupants, but
    every collision will involve a bigger amount of energy.

    Ciao,
    Alfio



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