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Speed’s Not Always A Factor: Why Not All Crashes At The Nürburgring Are Serious
Well, happy New Year to all you readers out there! I hope you’ve had a good break away from work and didn’t have any close encounters on the road. It’s a shame that they always spoil holidays by announcing the road toll for the season in just about every news snippet. Guess it’s horrible for the relatives of those involved in the crashes but the rest of us don’t really need to be reminded continually.
They’re fond of telling us that speed was a factor in those crashes. However, thanks to something that I spent time watching with the family online during quiet bits of the holiday period, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not just speed per se that causes serious injuries and the like. OK, it is a factor and most of us who did high school physics remember that the forces involved in something travelling at 30 km/h are lower than the forces involved in something travelling at 100 km/h. But there must be other things at play.
What we were watching that told this story was a collection of crash videos from the Nürburgring. This one, for example:
https://youtu.be/A3hZtvZHv7c
Watching these, you’d think that all the drivers in every single crash would be hurt badly. Knocked out at the very least in some cases (e.g. the little black hatchback in #6 – possibly he/she was). However, at least according to the blurb accompanying the video, nobody was seriously injured, with the worst one being a broken wrist. OK, yes there are deaths and serious injuries at the Nürburgring (these aren’t shown – apparently, the ethics of Nürburgring filmers prohibit posting any crashes that result in death or serious injury). However, all these crashes (and near crashes) happened at reasonably high speeds and didn’t automatically result in horror. Unless you consider the resulting financial and insurance issues to be horror (like the crash involving the Koenigsegg – a car that costs more than my house and the neighbours’ houses put together).
So why aren’t the crashes at the Nürburgring creating as much carnage as all the road safety ads would have us believe? Discussion with my fellow-watchers and a few moments of reflection suggest the following reasons why:
- Cars are built better these days. They have crumple zones to cushion heavy blows, tough impact protection systems and lots of airbags and seatbelts to protect the driver (I doubt anybody goes around the Nürburgring with kiddies in the back seat, so back seat protection probably isn’t a factor).
- Crash barriers are built better these days. Given this sort of footage, the Nürburgring (and similar tracks) go through quite a bit of crash barrier. This means that they have the chance to update to the newest, safest designs, which also involve impact absorption. Your local council doesn’t have the same turnover rate as the Ring and probably has the same barriers that they put up in the 1980s or even earlier thanks to budget reasons. These barriers tend to be a bit less forgiving.
There are no (or very few) head-on crashes at the Nürburgring. It’s head-ons that are the real nasties. At the Ring, everyone’s going in the same direction (at least most of the time). On the road, though, there is that other lane with people coming the other way.
- The Nürburgring has a singular lack of street furniture at tricky corners. Instead, they have nice wide grass berms, rather than lamp posts, parked trucks, planters made of brick or concrete walls. This means that if you do take that corner a little too fast for your car, the conditions and the camber, sending you spinning out beyond what your stability package can handle, there’s nothing for you to collect on the way. What’s more, the camber of the track is at the perfect angle for a high speed around that particular corner. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of our local roads all of the time – there was one particular corner on a road near where I lived when I was a teenager learning to drive that had negative camber (i.e. it sloped the wrong way for the direction of the turn). Were there heaps of crashes at that corner? You betcha. Have they fixed the problem even after 20+ years? Well, they hadn’t last time I went back there.
- The drivers aren’t distracted. This means that crashes involving more than one vehicle aren’t as frequent. People at the Nürburgring are there to do one thing: drive. They aren’t eating, trying to console a wailing kid in the back seat or texting. At least I hope they’re not texting, though they may be trying to film their lap on their phone.
The video also awoke a sneaky little desire to actually drive the Nürburgring. Not to set or equal any record lap times or anything like that but to say that I did it and survived. I doubt that I ever will – economics and the worry that some idiot would take me out dictate that, so I’ll be sticking to the simulators (a.k.a. motor racing computer games). However, if you’ve ever been lucky enough to have driven the Nürburgring, please share your story with us!
Preparing For The Summer Road Trip
Christmas and New Year are just around the corner, which means that the summer holiday season is finally upon us. This doesn’t just mean that this will be my last post here for 25016 (not sure what my fellow Private Fleet bloggers will be doing, though!). It also means that a lot of us are thinking about the big summer road trip. A lot of us take our annual vacation at this time of year, and still more of us travel to stay with the relatives for Christmas – I know my in-laws are on the road heading towards my place as I write this. The main intercity and interstate roads get a lot busier as people start doing a Chris Rea (i.e. driving home for Christmas) and as others head off for a getaway.
OK, there’s all the usual road safety things to be aware of, such as fatigue, irritability after being cooped up in a car with hot, grumpy kids for hours on end, increased police presence on the road as they clamp down on speed, etc. and ping you for being just the teeniest bit over the limit and slapping you with a hefty fine right before Christmas, etc. etc. I’m sure I’ve written about this in the blogs of Christmas past.
However, in order to have a safe and relatively happy road trip, you need to prepare the vehicle as well as packing your bags. The last thing you want is for a holiday to be ruined or for plans to be put out by an unscheduled stop somewhere thanks to a breakdown or your car giving up the ghost. OK, in the case of a holiday road trip, this may mean you end up discovering a wonderful new little place to stay that you wouldn’t have discovered if your car hadn’t blown something in the middle of nowhere, but if you’re trying to get to the rellies in time for Christmas, breaking down is a pain.
To avoid unnecessary hassles, it’s wisest to give your car a bit of a once-over before you start out. What exactly do you check? The following will be a good start:
Tyres. Have you got enough tread on all tyres, including the spare? Is the spare in good condition or is it just sitting in its place in sad condition, forgotten after the last time you had to change a flat?
Lights. What with the cops all trying to make up for having to work over the Christmas period by playing Let’s See How Many People We Can Book, it’s best not to give them an excuse. It’s also best not to have something malfunctioning on a car that could lead to a nasty situation. Check that all your lights are working – all of them. It might also be a wise idea to make sure that you’ve got some spare bulbs for your particular vehicle stashed away in the glovebox (and maybe a fuse or two). You never know when a light’s going to go on you and leave you stuck at the relatives’ place with all the mechanics closed and the one that is open on Boxing Day not having something suitable for your model. I’m not making this last one up, as it happened to some of our tribe when they were staying at our place a few years back. And it was pouring with rain for days and they had lots of kids but couldn’t get a spare light for the Mitsubishi Grandis … (thank goodness for the local swimming pool!).
Cooling system. Come on, you know that it gets hot here in summer. Very hot. Make sure that all the fluids are topped up in your vehicle before you set out.
Windscreen wipers. Make sure that the blades are in good nick so they can actually get the windows properly wiped, whether you’re driving through a patch of rain or whether you need to get the smashed moths and pollen off the windscreen. Don’t forget to top up the window washing fluid while you’re at it. The insides of windows can also be a problem, so stash some wipes in the glovebox – you’ll find that you use these for more than just cleaning the insides of the windows, too.
Trailers and caravans. Yes, it’s time for the caravan’s annual outing, so it may have been a while since you gave it some mechanical attention. Make sure it’s road legal and that it’s got a spare tyre in good condition as well. Don’t forget to make sure that the drawbar is properly lubed up.
Tow rope. I have lost count of the times that the other half has decided to do a little off-roading to find a good picnic spot but has ended up getting stuck. Off-roading when we owned an Isuzu Bighorn was all very well, but wasn’t quite so good when it happened in the Ford Fairmont . We’d have never got that car out of the sand without a good rope (thanks to some passers-by who did have a 4×4), or at least it would have been a long and difficult process of shoving sticks down and pushing and… but that’s another story. Make sure you have a good tow rope stowed in the car. You never know – you might be the one who has to tow or rescue someone else.
Most importantly of all, don’t forget to relax and enjoy the trip as much as the destination.
Why we buy the cars we do
So why do we drive the cars we drive? There’s always a reason behind our purchase. Even an impulse buy evolves from some previous conception in our mind as to why we should buy it. Maybe the car just looks incredible or maybe the sale price is just too good to miss. Perhaps we have a budget or our old car just “gave up the ghost”. There are so many wonderful cars on the market to choose from, so what is the reason we own the car we do?
According to a J.D Power survey taken last year, the top reason for owning a particular car was the car’s reliability record. Given that vehicle reliability is cited by half of all new car buyers as one of the most important reasons, perhaps this is why we tend to see more Toyota, Honda and Mazda cars driven on our roads than, perhaps, Fiat, Volkswagen and Peugeot. I’m really only taking a stab in the dark for the last three models mentioned (I’ve seen plenty of good ones on the roads out there); however, I do know that the Japanese cars mentioned here are usually more reliable. When you read some of the reliability ratings for new cars, remember that in the last five to ten years, the level of new electronics on-board a new car has increased dramatically. A malfunctioning touch screen or voice control unit, though frustrating, is less critical than a malfunctioning mechanical component or engine failure! The tendency for reliability ratings to draw more commonly on fiddly interior-related electronic failures can give a clouded view of a how reliable a car might actually be for getting you from A to B.
New car reliability is still number one factor for driving the cars we do.
How a car looks parked up the drive does hold great value in the minds of current new car buyers. More and more, the exterior design needs to look striking in the eyes of the purchaser before the cash is handed over. I wonder if this is the reason why Hyundai and Volvo sales are up?
Number 2: How it looks.
There are those who just love to buy the next new model in the range of car that they’ve been driving for the past 25 years. If you’ve had a happy experience with your old car, the chances are high that you’ll want to buy into the brand again via the newer model on offer. This is a common reason for owners to buy and drive the car they do.
I’ve owned one for the past 25 years!
Next common reason is how the car drives. How the car steers, corners, accelerates and rides does have a strong influence on the purchase. You need to be happy with your car in this respect, as, more often than not, you’ll be driving it for another few years yet.
How it drives.
People have a budget, and it’s only sensible to buy within your means. A vehicle’s price or the monthly payment is one of the main reasons that buyers will end up choosing a specific make and model of vehicle.
Budget
It was interesting to note that safety and fuel economy were both next on the list of reasons (and lower down) of why people buy the car they do. With all the new safety features that new cars place in their models to keep up with stringent crash testing, maybe new car buyers are starting to expect their latest buy to be safe anyway. Do keep in mind, however, that the laws of physics still exist and a smaller, lighter car will come off second best in a crash with a larger, heavier vehicle of a similar safety rating of, say, 5 stars.
Safety
Also, it’s really important to mention that collision avoidance systems are amazingly effective, so make sure that the new car you buy has these features as standard. Sadly, the number of distracted drivers on our roads has been on the increase.
As far as economy goes, hybrids seem to be the way to go to get the best low running costs over time. The purchase price for a hybrid still demands a higher price tag than more conventional models, so I guess if you’re going to hold onto the car for over five years, the maths starts to look better and better with buying a new hybrid. That said, aerodynamic design, new fuel-saving technologies such as automatic engine stop/start and cylinder deactivation, transmissions with up to 8 or 9 gears, and lighter vehicle structures made out of high-strength steel have all contributed to much better fuel efficiency for any type of car – hybrid or not.
Running costs.
The last two popular reasons people are driving the cars they do are less popular than the reasons mentioned above but still are worth noting. Firstly, a car’s workmanship or perceived build quality does still factor into the purchasing decision-making process for a new car buyer. It’s great to be able to note here that most new cars are bolted together pretty well, and so it’s less likely to see things disintegrating or falling off a brand new car – regardless of who made it.
Build quality or workmanship.
Secondly, people want to buy a new car with AWD or an SUV shape more commonly now than they used to. This has been an increasingly evident phenomenon on our roads, and the likelihood of seeing more SUVs and AWD vehicles on our roads continues to grow.
AWD or SUV.
I’d love you to comment on anything I might have missed here. Maybe you see things differently?
What Your Passengers Would Like To Tell You… But Probably Don’t
Nobody likes a backseat driver. You know it and your passengers know how irritating backseat drivers are, especially if the passengers in question are drivers themselves at times. However, there are times when your passengers would really like to speak up and say something, but they don’t, because they don’t want to be annoying. This means that at times, some things that really need to be said don’t get said.
So what might your passengers secretly be itching to tell you about your driving but swallowing out of desire not to get up your nose? Or (if they have been trying to say something) what have you been ignoring? Perhaps it’s one of the following things…
Don’t Corner So Hard
Yes, you’ve got a great car that is built to handle corners well. It’s a real driver’s car with the more rigid sport-tuned suspension that really lets you feel the road well so you can put your car through its paces around those tight bends. You like to get the most out of that stability control package while you fulfil your rally driver dreams as much as you can legally on a public road. Your passengers are probably not so keen on being chucked about from one side to the other as the car zooms around those corners. Even if the car has sports-style bucket seats in the front, you hardly ever get sports seats in the back, so every corner becomes a G-force nightmare. You, the driver, have a nice steering wheel to hold onto with both hands to keep yourself in position. You also have footrests and pedals to brace your feet against. The passengers… don’t. At most, they’ll start hanging onto the chicken handles, which give a little bit of extra stability but not anywhere as much as the steering wheel does. There also isn’t a chicken handle for the middle rear seat. Believe me, if you think it’s bad as a passenger in a sportily driven car in the front seat or by the windows, you wait until you’ve sat in the middle with somebody on both sides of you, getting squashed AND chucked around at every turn.
And if you see the passengers hanging on to the passenger grips, don’t say anything along the lines with “What’s the matter with you?” or you might tip them over the edge. Save the sporty rally driving for when you’re alone, or at least tone it down (and if your car has adjustable driving modes and tuning/suspension, set it to comfort mode, not sport mode).
I’ll Adjust The Sound System For You
You’re rather proud of the sound system in your car, whether it’s some snappy after-market job or the nice crisp one that came with the vehicle right from the factory floor. You want to get the most out of it by twisting knobs or tapping the touch screen to adjust the equalizer, the front-and-back balance, the bass-and-treble balance, etc. This is all very well and good, but do you have to do it while driving along at the legal speed limit? All too many accidents happen while the driver is fiddling around with the audio system. Steering-wheel mounted audio controls that switch mode, adjust the general volume and/or skip forward and back have made some of the job a lot safer, but a steering wheel that has all the fine tuning and balancing for the audio either isn’t available or would be just as distracting. Either get the settings right before you start, pull over or get your passenger to do it. It’s alarming to be riding as a passenger watching the driver bend down to fiddle with knobs and other controls while you just sit there, watching the car drift while you sit there helplessly…
Warn Me If It’s Getting Bumpy Or Bendy
Passengers don’t get the fun of driving, obviously. This means that they have to find other things to do during a long journey. This is why auxiliary plugs, cup holders, reading lights and sound systems have been included in cars. However, if your passenger is in in the act of adjusting the sound system, texting or taking a sip of that coffee-on-the-go when you swoop around a corner, dodge potholes or get to that uneven and bumpy bit on the road, things get messy – literally in the case of the coffee. Often, passengers aren’t concentrating on the road ahead like you are, so if they’re doing things that need a bit of fine motor control, things turn to custard if their balance and momentum are affected by the G-forces and bumping that you saw coming and they didn’t. We’ll warn you if we’re doing something that could get messy, but do warn us
Let Me Take The Wheel If You’re Tired
On a long-haul trip, it’s easy to let fatigue settle in, so sharing the driving is best. Your passenger will be able to nap while you drive so he/she can be fresh to take over the wheel. However, if you’re the sort who likes to just bash on through without any fuss and just get there, your passenger may not be able to relax enough to nap and stay fresh because he/she knows that you won’t admit you’re tired and need someone else to take over the wheel until you’re on the point of nodding off. “I need to stay awake to slap him/her awake if he/she nods off at the wheel,” could be what your passenger is thinking. The result is two tired people, none of who is fit to drive safely. It’s a lot safer (and a lot less fuss and a lot more efficient so you “just get there quickly”) if you reassure the passenger that you will indeed swap seats when you get weary, so that he/she can relax enough to put the seat back and have a snooze.
When I’ve Got To Go, I’ve Got To Go
Your passenger probably doesn’t want to nag you and remind you endlessly about the need to use the loo. He or she will probably say “I need to pee,” just the once and then expect you to find the next public loo or pull over at the next public toilet on the way (or large bush if you’re out on a rural road). If you’re concentrating on your driving and have to negotiate a stop sign or so and then forget what your passenger asked, he/she will be left bursting. He/she hasn’t forgotten that they need the loo just because a fire engine whizzed past forcing you to pull over and then you saw the Audi of your dreams in the next lane over and then…
Be extra quick to respond in the case of small children who haven’t quite got the same bladder or bowel control as adults, or in the case of a passenger who needs to throw up (see the first point about cornering). If you don’t pull over as soon as possible, then you’ve only got yourself to blame when there’s a mess on the seats.
Level 2, 9 Help Street