Blame the faulty drivers of dangerous machinery. 4WDs most dangerouson road

Brash wrote:
"Brash" wrote in message
u...

The car accident that left the daughter of former Wallaby skipper Phil
Kearns with life-threatening injuries has reignited demands for upgraded
safety on four-wheel drives.


How about upgraded situational awareness for ALL drivers?

How about tyargetting the biggest killers first.

How about dealing with faulty owners of dangerous
machinery that is involved
in a disproportionate number of child fatalities...

"I bought a 4WD for my families safety" - Pigs Arse


Nineteen-month-old Andie Kearns remains on a respirator in a critical but
stable condition in The Children's Hospital, Randwick, after she was
accidentally run over by her father in the driveway of the family home on
Saturday.


Very sad. I hope the little tike gets well soon. But raging against a
machine, be it a 4WD or a centrfire rifle, serves no purpose. The machines
can't hear you, and aren't to blam anyway.


A diahatsu charade has a rear blind spot of a few metres when a
two year old is standing behind it.

For a 4WD its over 15 metres.

4WDs are responsible for 50% of driveway killings of toddlers,
sedans, despite being much more common, only 20%.

I would say, you do the maths, but I don't think you can.


"People buy them (4WDs) thinking they're safe, but they simply are not,"
Mr Scruby said.

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.a...5936,15755676%
255E1702,00.html

4WD owners 'compensating'
By David Crawshaw
28jun05

FOUR-wheel drive owners will often tell you they chose their vehicles for
safety reasons.

But Pedestrian Council of Australia chairman Harold Scruby reckons it has
less to do with safety and more to do with compensating for anatomical
deficiencies.

"There's a Freudian factor; certain people have to buy these large cars
because they're missing elsewhere," Mr Scruby said today.

"The majority of drivers see (4WD owners) as aggressive and arrogant –
it's a certain type of person who has to have one of these vehicles and
sit above everyone else."

Mr Scruby today called for the removal of tariff reductions for 4WDs as a
study showed what many already suspected – that 4WDs are the most
dangerous cars on the road.

The Monash University study found 4WDs were far more likely than
conventional vehicles to kill or maim other road users.

Mr Scruby, who drives a Subaru Outback, said it was hard to tell to what
degree the people driving 4WDs were responsible for the high injury
rates, and how much was due to the physical nature of 4WDs.

It was not really possible to improve safety for the occupants of one
vehicle in a crash without compromising safety for the occupants of the
other, he said.

Mr Scruby called on the Federal Government to scrap tariff reductions on
4WD vehicles, and to apply lower tariffs to safer vehicles.

People who genuinely needed 4WDs, such as those in remote areas, could be
exempted from increased tariffs, he said.

But elsewhere 4WDs should be "taxed off the road".

"I don't think people in Mosman and Toorak should be getting these
vehicles at 5-per-cent tax when a Corolla is taxed at 10 per cent," Mr
Scruby said.

He also took aim at young drivers in regional areas who drove souped-up
utes often adorned with bullbars, aerials and stickers.

"In the bush every young driver wants to drive a Holden ute with a
bullbar," he said.

"It's a testosterone thing, it's all about 'mine is bigger than yours'."

NRMA vehicle policy expert Jack Haley said the high rate of injuries
caused by 4WDs was due to the type of vehicle involved, not the behaviour
of 4WD drivers.

The same tariffs should be applied to all cars, Mr Haley said.