Incredible...

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I don't doubt that texting is potentially worse than drunk driving just due to to the fact that, when drunk, your eyes will more likely be forward with head up than texting in a position with the device in your lap or against the wheel for support and looking down. Depending on the person, I guess there's something to be said for knowing that you're impaired versus being sober but totally distracted.

With all the new marijuana laws in effect, it'll undoubtedly now be much tougher on stoned drivers. Somehow though I see that as driving on the freeway and thinking you're going 60-65 mph and you look down at the speedometer and you're doing 25. Kind of a Cheech and Chong moment.
 
Even though the Escalade is a full BOF truck, and the Mazda CX3 is a unibody based on the Mazda SkyActiv platform, it shows two things: how far cars have come along in safety, no doubt due to safety engineering and metallurgy(more HSLA steel, pioneered by Mercedes and Volvo). GM would still build trucks on the GMT800/900 platforms, it's a mature and inexpensive platform, but not the greatest for safety and efficiency.

The Escalade is probably a GMT800/900 based truck, and GM didn't do too much of an upgrade between GMT400-GMT800. Maybe the new K2XX trucks do much better in crashes - FCA is still building the Ram as they did. Only Ford is blending in structural elements of unibody front ends and bolting them onto frames like on the 2004-current F150s(and maybe the new Super Duties) and the newer Expeditions/Navigators. The fenders on the newer Ford trucks don't just bolt up to the core support and A-pillars, they bolt up to a structural member of the cab. Maybe GM is doing that now.
 
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Through friends that work at the hospital we found out that the lady driving the Cadillac has had multiple surgeries for broken bones, internal injuries and a severe head injury. She was drunk, no seat belt, no driver's license, no insurance, no registration but a bill of sale for cash and not a citizen. Automotive safety is really a big deal, maybe God forgive me, more important than oil changes and worthy of it's own BITOG category.

The only comment from Linda the CX-3 driver is that maybe she'll upgrade to the CX-5 but no matter which one it's going to be a Mazda.



Originally Posted By: nthach
Even though the Escalade is a full BOF truck, and the Mazda CX3 is a unibody based on the Mazda SkyActiv platform, it shows two things: how far cars have come along in safety, no doubt due to safety engineering and metallurgy(more HSLA steel, pioneered by Mercedes and Volvo). GM would still build trucks on the GMT800/900 platforms, it's a mature and inexpensive platform, but not the greatest for safety and efficiency.

The Escalade is probably a GMT800/900 based truck, and GM didn't do too much of an upgrade between GMT400-GMT800. Maybe the new K2XX trucks do much better in crashes - FCA is still building the Ram as they did. Only Ford is blending in structural elements of unibody front ends and bolting them onto frames like on the 2004-current F150s(and maybe the new Super Duties) and the newer Expeditions/Navigators. The fenders on the newer Ford trucks don't just bolt up to the core support and A-pillars, they bolt up to a structural member of the cab. Maybe GM is doing that now.
 
It doesn't matter what you are driving unless it is a military tank if you get in a severe accident without a seat belt. Points of impact also make a huge difference, look at the recent "slight overlap" crash tests.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
She was drunk, no seat belt, no driver's license, no insurance, no registration but a bill of sale for cash and not a citizen.

I'm not going to diverge my political views here. I do see CA's motive to provide driver's licenses to the undocumented - in theory they can get their cars registered and insured easier. Illegal or not, people will find ways to get cars, not as much as in cities but more in the suburbs and rural areas because there aren't other ways to get around unless you have a car. However, public transit is almost always axed first when cities or counties are in a budget crunch, and rideshare services(Uber and Lyft) can fill in the gap, but they are much more expensive and not "accessible" for all.

However, what drives me up the wall is people who drive drunk. Take a cab, ping Uber, get a room somewhere or even walk home. Far cheaper than the costs of a DUI, and in this case we're all paying for it.
 
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Drunk driving is a real problem for the innocent people that get hit by these idiots. Linda was lucky that she was not hurt.

There's no argument about fault because she was stopped at a red light and the other driver ran a red light at something like 40 mph and hit her head on during her lunch break. The lady driving the Cadillac was two times over the limit on her blood alcohol at the ER. It could have been a bit higher at the scene.

It appears that there's a lot of money to be made with anything connected with drinking but until they put people first and really come down much harder on drunks the problem will continue. If you can afford a night of drinking you can hold out enough to pay for a ride home. It's not complicated.

Look at what could have happened. Linda is an Afghanistan war widow with a 10 year old daughter and no next of kin, now besides the daughter. This accident was not really an accident. It was a predictable event. The other driver started the crime when she got behind the wheel. And a financial settlement would have come to nothing because there would have been no assets available. One can certainly say, God bless Mazda for building a good car.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
It was a predictable event. The other driver started the crime when she got behind the wheel. And a financial settlement would have come to nothing because there would have been no assets available. One can certainly say, God bless Mazda for building a good car.



The problem is people who drink and drive are in their own reality, like a lot of people these days. They honestly think that they didn't do anything wrong. Even my friend who got the DUI said "well, I didn't feel drunk. I was fine to drive home, all of my friends did". Obviously not if she hit someone on a bike. The lawsuit against her by the family is "annoying" to her. People are too thick headed to swallow their pride and admit they've had too much or that they are at fault for something. I saw it every day in auto insurance. There was always a running joke that a person could be by themselves on a dirt road in the woods, hit a tree, 5 cameras could witness it, and they would claim it was someone else's fault.
 
That could explain texting, too.

A few years ago in San Diego a 16 year old girl was driving her brand new birthday present and texting. She swerved across the center line and hit an Odyssey with a young woman and a baby and killed them both. The mother of the Odyssey driver was in a following vehicle and saw the whole thing happen. The texting driver was unhurt and screaming at the CHP officer that took away her phone while the fire department paramedics were doing their job. The texting driver that caused the accident was upset because she had just received a message and wanted to answer it and the CHP officer would not let her. Evidently this texting driver had no concept of reality and was annoyed at all the commotion and activity around her.
 
My guess is Escalade was never engineered for any safety. Just a profitable engineer of high vehicle placed on back engineering on full size frame to carry pickup loads and not subject to scrutiny of safety standards.

Unibody has always had advantages with crash energy absorption from start. Full frame engineering is behind the curve as unibody crash engineering has been on going for 20-30 years. Nothing on full frame was done for safety till mid 2000's.....they got away with it.
 
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