4 Wheel Drive(r)s

Don't think this article has been mentioned on a.b already, from

http://drive.com.au/Editorial/Articl...ID=18912&vf=12

4WD drivers more dangerous: study

AAP, 31/07/06

Motorists drive faster and brake harder when they get behind the wheel
of a four-wheel drive, researchers have found.

Motorists drive faster and brake harder when they get behind the wheel
of a four-wheel drive, researchers have found.

Academics from Queensland University of Technology's (QUT) Centre for
Accident Research and Road Safety tested a group of drivers who
regularly use four-wheel drives, as well as other cars, and found their
behaviour changed according to which car they were in.

Lead researcher Dr Andry Rakotonirainy said the 16 drivers were asked to
travel a 24km route in Brisbane's northside, including suburban streets
and highway travel, and found people drove faster in the four-wheel drives.

Mr Rakotonirainy said they also braked harder in four-wheel drives and
gave themselves less distance to stop "despite being in a vehicle that
weighed over three tonnes".

"At the moment there aren't any programs that specifically teach people
how to drive a four-wheel drive in suburbia - which is where most of
them go," said Mr Rakotonirainy.

"But driving children to school in a four-wheel drive requires different
skills to driving a sedan or smaller car.

"You have to take into consideration that you are driving a vehicle that
is two to three times the weight of a normal car - and higher - and will
therefore handle differently."

The research team hopes the study will prompt increased driver education
programs for four-wheel drive owners, who have higher rates of accidents
than other vehicles.

Dr Rakotonirainy said his research team would use a $172,716 grant from
the Australian Research Council to research the effectiveness of
technology in driving awareness campaigns.

"If we can use the technology to record evidence of particular
behaviours drivers are more likely to accept what they might be doing
wrong," he said.

"It's more difficult for people to argue with hard data than with
subjective observations."

In aus.bicycle on 1 Aug 2006 20:05:46 -0700
Donga wrote:
Dr Rakotonirainy said his research team would use a $172,716 grant from
the Australian Research Council to research the effectiveness of
technology in driving awareness campaigns.

"If we can use the technology to record evidence of particular
behaviours drivers are more likely to accept what they might be doing
wrong," he said.

"It's more difficult for people to argue with hard data than with
subjective observations."

What a curious notion, considering the clamour that speed/red light
cameras are only for fundraising!

no one argues that the cameras saw what they did.

They just argue that what they did was wrong...

If you show they did it, then they have to fall back on that, rather
than having the "But I didn't!" defence.

Zebee

That sort of driving behaviour defies logic and is really rather
worrying as it seems to show that, on average, people become stupid
once they sit behind the wheel of a 4WD.

Our garage holds 2 vehicles (the rest of the house holds 8 complete
bikes plus others in bits). One vehicle is a large 4WD and the other is
a turbo-charged Euro sedan. (We just renewed the insurance, and both
vehicles are on low-kilometre policies because we use bikes or PT
whenever practicable, ie most of the time.)

But when we do use the vehicles.....I drive the 4WD like a truck
because it has the braking and handling characteristics of a truck. I
drive it slowly through corners etc. The other vehicle, however, has
much better braking, handling etc and I can drive it more quickly.
Simple. Logical. You would have to be a moron to do it the other way
around.

We need some new testing procedures before we let people drive 4WDs, me
thinks.

SteveA


--
SteveA

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 2 Aug 2006 18:02:11 +1000
SteveA wrote:

That sort of driving behaviour defies logic and is really rather
worrying as it seems to show that, on average, people become stupid
once they sit behind the wheel of a 4WD.

I suspect it's risk compensation.

They feel safer, and so reduce their actual safety margin to the
perceived one.

Zebee

On 2/8/06 6:02 PM, in article ,
"SteveA" wrote:

But when we do use the vehicles.....I drive the 4WD like a truck
because it has the braking and handling characteristics of a truck. I
drive it slowly through corners etc. The other vehicle, however, has
much better braking, handling etc and I can drive it more quickly.
Simple. Logical. You would have to be a moron to do it the other way
around.

That¹s my experience as well. My last car was an XR8, even idling you'd be
sitting on the speed limit, and you really needed to be ever vigilant not to
go past the limit. My next car was a Hilux, and I find more often than not
that I drive well below the speed limit and that¹s the comfortable speed for
the truck.

A 'scientific' study with 16 data points and virtually no controls is a joke
at best.

--brett