I don't think it has anything to do with 'LBC Voodoo'.
My experience, (17 years as a paramedic in a metro area) and reported
statistics show that accidents that involve serious injury or death are less
than 1% of total accidents. The number of LBCs on the road is also a very
small percentage of total vehicles. They are driven, for the most part, in
fair weather and as was mentioned in a previous email, at slower speeds. The
road seems to go by much faster when you're in a LBC.
Serious injuries occur when:
the car rolls
the passengers are ejected
there is more than 12" intrusion into the passenger space
LBCs for the most part are very stable and not subject to roll over during
normal driving. Not to say they won't flip, any vehicle can. I once came to
the aid of a young girl who flipped her Chevy Cavalier while driving through a
mall parking lot! She wasn't going very fast, but the car hit a curb on the
left side with a down hill slope to the right. When we arrived she was
hanging upside down in the car from her seat belt. She was fine, just very
embarrassed!
If you wear your seat belts, you should stay in your car. That is the best
protection during a accident.
Unfortunately, LBCs being built before a real understanding of the third item,
do not have the intrusion protection that modern cars do. What they do have
is smaller size (less mass), which when you understand the power equation
(e=m*v2 or something like that) does lessen the energy delivered to the
passengers in an impact. Velocity is the real key in that equation, once
again we come to the slower driven LBCs.
Just be careful out there!
Thanks,
Paul Mostrom
'77 Spitfire 1500
'80 Ford F-100 (Triumph Support Vehicle)
'Black holes, where God divided by zero......'
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