The improvement in car safety in the UK resulted in the 2018 risk of fatality per motor vehicle mile being about one-tenth of that during the 1970s

by Travellingjake

11 comments

  1. And councils still insist on lowering speed limits

  2. Only protecting those in the car. For pedestrians and cyclists cars consistently became more dangerous.

    Edit: Unfortunately any logic in these discussions is overridden by ‘car lobby’ trolls.

  3. And folks can thank motor racing and Formula 1 for a lot of this.

    As a motor racing fan I often take crap for liking a “pointless sport that creates pollution”

    Crumple zones, airbags, side-impact protection bars, abs brakes, traction control, tyre improvements, engine efficiency, braking and suspension systems…

    All have been pushed forward by top motorsport. And the ordinary motorist is the one who benefits the most.

  4. 1930s were even worse: a similar number of fatalities as the 1970s but with a fraction of the number of vehicles:

    * In 1930 there were 7,305 deaths from just 2.3 million road vehicles (though only half of these were private cars).
    * In 1970 it was 7,499 from 13.5 million road vehicles.
    * Last year it was 1,633 from 41.7 million.

    The highest total number of road fatalities was in 1941, at 9,169, but presumably that was related to the War.

  7. Its not just car safety. Its a number of factors like making drink driving socially unacceptable, speed cameras, better training etc

  8. I was in an RTA a few years ago where a lad not only hit the rear of my vehicle at least 40mph but as he was rotated into the oncoming lane was struck by another car (also likely doing 40mph) in the driver’s side.

    He obviously got his shit rocked and fucked one of his legs pretty badly but he wasn’t dead; he was in a Peugeot 107 sized car. I wonder if he’d have had the same luck ‘back in’t day’.

  9. I was recently musing on this.

    Growing up in the 90s it was generally grim news to be in any significant sort of accident. Anything head-on was often game over. A few kids at my school lost parents, a couple of lads died shortly after getting their licences. I genuinely feared long road trips and worried about my dad commuting every day.

    Now, I’m flabbergasted by all the people that get into pretty flamboyant accidents and don’t just survive, but walk away. The amount of able-bodied people who have stories of writing the cars off is amazing.

  10. It could be even better with proper road design. So so so much more to gain.

  11. GF was involved in a RTA. Standstill in nearside lane waiting to exit motorway.

    7 tonne lorry slammed full speed into Range Rober behind my GF’s car. Sent her car into a spin and then smashed into armco barrier.

    She came away with ‘just’ with whiplash and soft tissue injuries.

    Several months later she was ready to buy another car, asked her which one she wanted and she chose the exact same car.

    Puzzled, I asked why.

    “That car saved my life!”

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