[MUSIC]
Look, don't get me wrong.
Modern cars have become incredibly safe.
They cocoon you in belts and airbags.
They hardly ever skid.
They give you superhuman vision, put the brakes on by themselves, and let you walk away from crashes that would have killed every occupant and three pedestrians a few decades ago.
But along the way, they have also gotten more dangerous.
You heard me.
Here are my top 5 ways that modern cars are in some ways less safe than the ones they replaced.
Number 5, greater weight.
Every car out there weighs a lot these days.
A 1976 Honda Accord weighted about 1,900 pounds, a 2018, 3,400 pounds.
A 2011 study by reasearchers at UC Berkeley found that for every thousand pounds more weight in the car that hits yours there's a 47% increase in the chance that you will die The great irony is that much of that weight gain came from engineering and equipment changes to make cars safer.
Number 4 is a lot more power.
While cars got heavier, they also got even more powerful.
Therefore assigning more horsepower to each pound of vehicle.
And as you know, speed kills.
Well, not exactly, the rapid unplanned reduction of it does that.
[SOUND]
Going back to our Honda Accord, a 2018 has a power to rate ratio almost 50% hardier than the old 1976.
[MUSIC]
That can get the inattentive or idiotic driver in more trouble faster.
[SOUND]
[MUSIC]
Number three is Dark Window tint.
The prevalence of it has gone off the chart Whether it's that nasty home brew job some dude did.
It's peeling off around the edges.
Or whether it's the prevalence of dark privacy tint on almost every crossover and SUV, they turn vehicles into big opaque objects, making it really hard for you to know there's a biker or pedestrian just on the other side heading your way.
Let alone how tough it makes for that cop to see what weapon might be awaiting.
[MUSIC]
Number two, reduced visibility.
Big ramps, high ways, thick pillars.
Sounds like a certain mix a lot some, but it's not, it's just modern in car design.
For a variety of reasons from aerodynamics to, ironically, safety standards, the out review from vehicles is highly is in pinch the pond these days by all kinds of structure.
Maybe that's why Jaguar Landrover's been developing a technology that makes them virtually invisible.
Number 1, as you might imagine, is But I'm not here to talk about all the same old hands on the wheel, eyes on the road stuff.
We all know that.
There's another wrinkle to distraction, and that is that new cars have ushered in much more.
Built in and brought in, while at the same time requiring that you spend more attention because of the previous four things in my list.
This is an odd collision We have vehicles that require a more attentive driver and yet making sure that we don't have one.
That didn't go the right way.
[MUSIC]
