Date:         Thu, 26 Feb 2004 09:28:35 -0600
Reply-To:     "Mr. Polak" <MrPolak@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Mr. Polak" <MrPolak@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: small car VW engine conversion-- Minivans
Comments: To: Al Knoll <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <000b01c3fc21$cc92d100$6500a8c0@pacbell.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1

Al Knoll said:
> http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_01_12_a_suv.html  has some factual data
> regarding SUVs, the ministry of fear, and woosie drivers.
>
The above article makes the false assumption that the fewer people die in
a given vehicle per year, the safer it must be.  It does not take into
account a)the average age/demographics of the driver b) the number of said
models on the road c) the predominant environment in which the vehicle is
used and above all c) how many miles per year each model is driven.

This is a bit like the insurance companies screaming that there's
bloodshed on  the roads since 55 speed limit was lifted while ignoring the
disproportiane increase in congestion to new infrastructure development,
the increase in total number of vehicles and increase of total number of
miles driven.  If you look at the number of total deaths per miles driven,
there are fewer people dying per given amount of miles driven than ever.

Like any good politician they know how to represent the numbers to make
them appear favorably to their agenda.

Chris.