Driver death rates by make and model – Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
iihs.org
iihs.org
The associated video [1] gives some interesting details and context, one interesting thing is that "deaths are over 40,000 people/year for the first time in years." This appears to be due to the fact that there are more giant pickup trucks on the road.
So basically, unsurprisingly, the problem is too many SUVs and pickups. Unfortunately, the American response has been to buy more SUVs and pickups rather than fewer.
I wondered how people who inspected the work of the folks who cut these hedgerows didn't notice that it blocks sight lines for everyone who isn't in a pickup truck or large SUV. Then it became obvious, that both the people who do this kind of work as well as the sort of people who inspect it are both very likely themselves to be completely habituated to truck level sight lines and forget what it looks like for passenger cars.
(b) Is driving Nissan Altima and Chevy Malibu risky?
Whenever someone says (1) A causes B, present such alternative hypotheses as (2) B causes A or (3) D causes B. Now we are left with three hypotheses to explain the same phenomenon. How to pick which of the competing hypotheses? Here we need solid reasoning to pick answers, not statistics.
Why these drivers drive a certain way is up in the air still I guess.
"Big Altima Energy" is a common meme on car forums.
While on the road, I treat all Nissans as potential accidents waiting to happen.
First they are rental, meaning they are driven hard and by drivers that don’t know the car and don’t have incentives to drive in ways that are good for breaks and engine.
Then they get put on the 2nd hand market, where the thread speculate that they are bought by people who are in a financial bind and whatever lies behind the bad decisions that led them to said bind is reflected in their driving.
This a good economical safe car attracts accidents.
These cars attract aggressive anti social people.
I'm from the central valley. I see a lot of "big Altima energy" although you'll see it in Oakland, San Jose and those types too. Main point, I see tons of them.
They are driven beyond the legal limit of "aggressiveness" all the damn time. Someone speeding through a parking lot.. Altima. Someone running a read light.. Altima. Someone doing illegal crazy uturns? Altima. Believe me, you do not want to start road raging with an Altima owner either.
Obviously these actions aren't the sole property of Altima owners. Dodge Chargers are also maniacs in their own way. But there is definitely something very statistically significant about the insanity of a disproportionate number of Altima owners.
They seem like the road equivalent of waitresses who only wear the minimum flair.
People who get DUIs might be more likely to buy certain types of cars, but no type of car makes someone drink and drive
Trucks don't seem much safer for occupants, while being much worse than expected for other parties.
A small truck like a Tacoma or Colorado scores somewhere in the 40-50 range for other driver death rate. This on par with a Honda Accord, for example. In contrast, a RAM 3500 scores 189! Makes you really wonder if such things should be legal.
That other large SUVs like Suburbans/Tahoes (same platform as GM trucks) do not have the same opposing death rate, could suggest that things like driver behavior play an equally large role. This theory (along with the seat belt usage) could be supported by the high rates of driver fatalities in the Dodge muscle (marked as large, but RWD Hemi...) car segment.
What kind of car is this?