What type of crash are you most likely to have?

[SunDude]

A separate thread about Cobra roll bars and safety has prompted me to pull together some facts about motor vehicle crashes for your information.

According to the U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), in the 10-year period from 2000 to 2009 there was a total of 61.014 million vehicle collisions in the United States.

Of those, 68.2% were vehicle-to-vehicle crashes, 15.7% involved hitting a fixed object, 13.0% involved hitting another type of object (stationary or moving), and the balance involved something NHTSA labels a "non collision."

The 15 most common types of collisions were as follows:

30.1% - Rear end impact
28.5% - Angle impact (vehicle to vehicle)
7.3% - Sideswipe (vehicle to vehicle)
5.6% - Parked vehicle
4.6% - Animal
3.8% - Other/unknown fixed object
3.4% - Pole/post
3.2% - Curb/culvert/ditch
2.3% - Tree/shrubbery
2.2% - Rollover
2.2% - Head on
1.8% - Guard rail
1.1% - Pedestrian
0.9% - Embankment
0.8% - Cyclist

As you can see, rollovers are pretty uncommon. However, they can be pretty severe: 61.6% of rollovers caused personal injury and 3.0% resulted in death. The one to really watch for is the vehicle-to-vehicle angle impact; it's both commonplace and deadly.

Make what you will of these data.

[jhv48]

One involving too much throttle and not enough tire!

[Beastly]

Well I recently avoided an animal in road 4.6% but swerved/slid on gravel in shallow culvert on side of road 3.2% and wound up scraping a tree 2.3%. Seems the odds kept going down but destiny caught me. Very intersting stats!

[Bill E]

good info, Is there any stats on just cobras?

[Tommy]

For me personally, I think the highest probability of a crash is having a deer run into me. There are lots of rural roads where I live and I see dead deer by the roads all the time. The second highest probability for me is getting hit by someone paying more attention to their telephone than the road. ... I would very much like to see mandatory technology that disables telephone devices in the immediate vicinity of the driver's seat while the car is in gear.

[JBCOBRA]

+1 on all that Tommy
The deer in my area are everywhere. Almost like deer farms. I have hit a couple in regular cars. Luckily not in the Cobra.
I will only wear a lap belt around here, so I can Duck. It would really suck to hit a dear in a Cobra and be all strapped in with no chance of ducking below the dash

Originally Posted by Tommy

For me personally, I think the highest probability of a crash is having a deer run into me. There are lots of rural roads where I live and I see dead deer by the roads all the time. The second highest probability for me is getting hit by someone paying more attention to their telephone than the road. ... I would very much like to see mandatory technology that disables telephone devices in the immediate vicinity of the driver's seat while the car is in gear.

[kevins2]

JBCobra,

Deer are my fear as well. I live just a few miles south of you in the West Chester area. My son totaled my daily driver last summer when a large deer bounded in front of him. Fortunately he wasn't injured. Still waiting on my Cobra but was wondering the same thing about being strapped in too tight and not being able to duck. Also wonder if it is possible to find the point where you are loose enough to duck (maybe to the side a bit) but still be strapped tight enough to not hit the wheel/dash in a frontal impact... Guess I'll find out for myself once I get my build underway. I work from a home office and see deer in my yard every day, without fail. Too many of them aound here for sure.

Kevin

[JBCOBRA]

Hi Kevin!
Welcome.
There are a bunch of great guys around here with Cobras.
If you need any help, I am great at supervising and drinking beer LOL

[JBCOBRA]

I have hit a variety of little furry beasts and one big bird flew right in the grill opening.
Thankfully 'glass cars are pretty tough.

[kevins2]

Originally Posted by JBCOBRA

Hi Kevin!
Welcome.
There are a bunch of great guys around here with Cobras.
If you need any help, I am great at supervising and drinking beer LOL

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind and will make sure the fridge is stocked if you ever come over. I'll look forward to meeting some of the local characters.

Regards,

Kevin

[cobrarob]

Great stats Brian

But to be honest i would just like to get out and drive if winter ever goes away

[mreid]

Originally Posted by kevins2

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind and will make sure the fridge is stocked if you ever come over. I'll look forward to meeting some of the local characters.

Regards,

Kevin

Better get a bigger fridge!

[kevins2]

Originally Posted by mreid

Better get a bigger fridge!

Ahh, and so the personality traits of my local fellow Cobra enthusiasts begin to emerge...

[DougD]

One that starts out with throttle-induced oversteer, followed by an overcorrection or two by the driver, then a snap spin. If you're lucky, you won't hit anything, and will only have to clean out your shorts. If not ...

My advice to avoid an accident? GET SOME TRACK TIME at a high performance driving event. Cobras handle and drive like few other cars. They are lethal, especially with the overpowered engines we all love to put in them. Find your limits in a relatively safe environment.

[DRAGON]

When I lived in WV I would have said hitting a deer was my best chance of an accident. Here in NC I think the best chance of an accident is being hit by an undocumented immigrant or a female teenager who is texting.

[Varmit]

Originally Posted by jhv48

One involving too much throttle and not enough tire!

I will go for that, plus I usually have an ample case of rectal crainial inversion to cap it off!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TButtrick]

With all the roll bar, dual roll bar, high back seat discussions as of late and according to the stats above, your car should look like this and it STILL looks better than dual roll bars.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by Beastly

Well I recently avoided an animal in road 4.6% but swerved/slid on gravel in shallow culvert on side of road 3.2% and wound up scraping a tree 2.3%. Seems the odds kept going down but destiny caught me. Very intersting stats!

This gave me a chuckle - is that a 10.1 percenter overall? I'm sure it was anything but funny at the time however.

[Bill Bess]

I'm a cycist, so I like the percentages for an accident ....very low, but when you do get hit on a bike, it's very very bad. A friend of mine is currently in a Las
Vegas Hospital with a broken pelvis, broken ribs and ringing in his head,all from being hit by a ford f-150 going 50mph. The truck driver didn't see him...oppps!
Maybe I can wrap myself in foam, kind of like the picture above to protect me?

I think the Cobra is much safer at any speed.

[trularin]

Got to love a thread that has car crashes, beer and racing all in the discussion topics.

I put fully functional roll bars in as I had seen a video of a cobra roll over and they took the driver to the hospital - the roll bar had collapsed. I think the video is still on youtube.

The car was going to be a "fun day at the track" idea and then I got in with this bunch.
Now it is a drive when the weather is nice type car.

Roll bars - you have to decide if they are an appearance item or a safety item. It would be a bloody shame to not make them functional and need it/them later in a roll over.

Your stats are interesting, they should not be used as an excuse to not put something in/on the vehicle.

Just my $.02 worth.