Years before, I was rear ended while riding a bicycle, by a teenager, driving a van, while on a joyride. I spent 4 weeks in a USAF hospital, air transported to a VA hospital for another year of spinal rehabilitation. I prefer a affordable small reliable car, like the Yaris. Far safer than riding a bicycle. Plus I will add a ton less CO2 into the air each year than the average person driving a SUV. Plus the manafacture will put less CO2 into the air while producing a small car. Less CO2 will be put into air shipping a small car to the dealer. Less CO2 will be put into the air recycling the car after it’s useful life. That way I reduce green house gases and help slow Global Warming. Plus for the cost of a Suburban, I can buy 2 small cars and save $60 a month on gasoline as well.

Years before, I was rear ended while riding a bicycle, by a teenager, driving a van, while on a joyride. I spent 4 weeks in a USAF hospital, air transported to a VA hospital for another year of spinal rehabilitation. I prefer a affordable small reliable car, like the Yaris. Far safer than riding a bicycle. Plus I will add a ton less CO2 into the air each year than the average person driving a SUV. Plus the manafacture will put less CO2 into the air while producing a small car. Less CO2 will be put into air shipping a small car to the dealer. Less CO2 will be put into the air recycling the car after it’s useful life. That way I reduce green house gases and help slow Global Warming. Plus for the cost of a Suburban, I can buy 2 small cars and save $60 a month on gasoline as well.

Mass is the biggest factor to consider in collisions, and thus a smaller car will always lose its momentum faster than a larger car, thus more at the mercy of whatever it collides with. And let’s say you’re really insecure, so you buy the biggest, heaviest SUV you can find, because you’re pretty sure that its sheer mass will destroy anything in its path, keeping you safe.

The problem with that logic is that automobile collisions become increasingly more deadly as the vehicles get bigger, because bigger vehicles take much more time and force to slow down. On an open road, the smaller car has a pretty good chance of simply bouncing off your SUV rather than being crushed like a soda can, and without sufficient stopping force from the impact with the car, your SUV will likely lose control and keep on barreling through. And once you lose control, you’re not going to get it back as easily as if you had a smaller vehicle.

The only time where you’re going to be practically safe in a SUV vs. compact collision is if you’re in a head-on collision, and you’re lucky enough that your SUV doesn’t just drive over the small car and end up flipping over.

If sheer mass was what really made the difference between life and death in collisions, then the safest drivers would be driving big rigs. But since most of you safe drivers obviously aren’t truckers, then there’s probably some perfectly good explanation as to why a smaller vehicle is safer.

Mass is the biggest factor to consider in collisions, and thus a smaller car will always lose its momentum faster than a larger car, thus more at the mercy of whatever it collides with. And let’s say you’re really insecure, so you buy the biggest, heaviest SUV you can find, because you’re pretty sure that its sheer mass will destroy anything in its path, keeping you safe.

The problem with that logic is that automobile collisions become increasingly more deadly as the vehicles get bigger, because bigger vehicles take much more time and force to slow down. On an open road, the smaller car has a pretty good chance of simply bouncing off your SUV rather than being crushed like a soda can, and without sufficient stopping force from the impact with the car, your SUV will likely lose control and keep on barreling through. And once you lose control, you’re not going to get it back as easily as if you had a smaller vehicle.

The only time where you’re going to be practically safe in a SUV vs. compact collision is if you’re in a head-on collision, and you’re lucky enough that your SUV doesn’t just drive over the small car and end up flipping over.

If sheer mass was what really made the difference between life and death in collisions, then the safest drivers would be driving big rigs. But since most of you safe drivers obviously aren’t truckers, then there’s probably some perfectly good explanation as to why a smaller vehicle is safer.