Small Cars Are Death Traps

According to data from the government, the insurance industry and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), you are more likely to die in a crash if you are driving a small car compared to that of a large auto. Even the safest small car is more dangerous than that of a behemoth large auto when it comes to accidents:

Sales and registration data show that small cars — what most people call compacts and subcompacts, such as Civic, Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, Mazda3, Nissan Sentra, Chevrolet Cobalt and smaller — are about 14% of vehicles on the road. But they accounted for nearly 24% of occupants killed in one- and two-vehicle crashes in 2005, the latest year for which specific information is available.

The article goes on to say that the safest small car, the VW Jetta, got that way because it is heavier than most small or compact cars.

In other data from a group called the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), they concluded that:

...the least-safe small cars are at least 90% more dangerous than midsize and full-size cars, meaning the driver is almost twice as likely to be killed.

It's not surprising that you are less likely to die in an auto accident if you are in a big car or truck, as the article says, it's the law of physics.

Recently, our own federal gov't started issuing big, juicy cheques for anyone stupid enough to squeeze themselves into a hybrid death-mobile...up to $3000.00! However, if you bought a MUCH safer SUV, you face an *environmental tax* of up to $4000.00

So, you can either choose to be a dead friend of the environment or a living earth-rapist. Oh the choices!