Safety rant

When I was flying, I read a monthly summary of every plane crash, fatal and otherwise, and it was sobering. Reading the accident reports reminded me that what we do has real consequences and there but for the grace of God ...

Sometimes the difference between another dawn and the great unknown beyond is every bit of our wit and experience and applied judgement.
​

Curiously, my current attitude about safety came indirectly as a result of the "Bell the Hybrid" act but not because of the primary issues. A few days before the June 23, 2008 hearing, I came across the NHTSA "Backover and Non-Crash Events Special Crash Investigations, Protecting Children in and Around Cars Lifesavers 2008" Augustus "Chip" Chidester, April 13, 2008. When you see pictures of vehicles and locations where parents and neighbors injured or killed their kids or their neighbors' kids, it is sobering. And then I was in a room of people whose access problem, real as it is, does not share the blood debt of kids being backed over.

Our Prius are fantastic engineering achievements and our enthusiasm for efficiency often overlooks the safety features. For example, how many know the new 2010 Prius has a front bumper, quarter panels and hood designed to reduce pedestrian injuries and death? How about the oblivious pedestrians who blind themselves with iPods, cell phones and other distractions when mixing with traffic? But these are nits, very rare, compared to the stream of ordinary Prius accidents that happen every week. Then I look at accident avoidance, lane following and backup cameras and these are not mere "nice to have" but systems that can make a measurable reduction in Prius accidents, injuries and deaths.

If we can perhaps, get Prius folks to think about accidents, not to dwell upon them, but briefly refresh those memories about how accidents happen ... maybe we can learn from the experiences of others and relate because of the Prius association. Now I'll go back to my corner and howl at the futility of seeing another week besmirched by blood on the streets.

Bob Wilson