Okay, look, we don't know anything about cars, really. We don't build 'em. We don't sell 'em. Good lord, we don't even get to crash 'em. We do read about 'em, however. But whenever we do, we're always left with more questions. And when we're driving around we're simply overflowing with questions, as in, "Does the person in that huge truck really know how to drive it? Are we about to die without having our "meeting" with Nicole Kidman? Oh, Nicole, how we'll miss thee!"
These latest two articles piqued our interest:
CNN: Mazda RX-8 only vehicle with 5-star rollover risk rating
The Detroit News: Van rollovers spark driver training
Both are, essentially, going on about the same subject. Avoiding accidents. The new RX-8 (a sweet ride -- just don't try to get out of the back seat, ugh!) is the only car (so far) that gets a top rating in accident avoidance. CNN then craps on the car for only getting four out of five stars in an actual crash test which we don't totally get since the headline was touting it for avoiding the accident in the first place. We also didn't like the cutline under the photo of the RX-8 which makes it sound like the RX-8 did poorly in crash tests, which it did not.
Then the Detroit News talks about how these enormous 15-passenger vans are rolling over and over (an average of over 85 people died each year between 1990 - 2002 in these things). And someone now decided that, hey, maybe we should teach people how to drive these things? You think?
Our take is this: you should be allowed to drive any legal passenger vehicle. Period. Now, does that mean you, the average suburban-car-owning driver should go out and buy a Hummer? Sure, if you're a moron. Should you go out and buy your newly-licensed 16-year-old daughter a 7100 pound Cadillac Escalade? Sure, if you don't mind talking to the parents of the kids she'll most likely have killed while she chatted on her cell about her new ride.
Heh, so what's the real answer?
More experience. More training. Good lord, airplane pilots are required to train over and over during their entire career... not just one extra test. Now, granted, an airline pilot can be the cause a hell of a disaster but most drivers pass more people on the way to work than any airline pilot has on his plane. So, we think that if a vehicle's weight is over 6,000 pounds or has more horsepower per pound than an average sedan (say the 2004 Chevy Malibu) special training (aka special license) should be required. If a car has more electronics in it, the dealer should be required to prove that the buyer passed a training session... I mean how many people are gonna get hit while some big ol' fatty driving his new 2004 BMW 7-series was trying to figure out how to change the radio station with BMW's new iDrive system? And just 'cause Mazda made a bitchin' sports car that handles superbly doesn't mean the person behind the wheel knows how to avoid the accident.
Let's learn how to use it before putting it on the road, folks.
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