Gladwell on SUV safety

One of the key points Gladwell makes is the difference between active and passive safety: active being the driver who is actively engaging in avoiding the accident. Passive avoidance is the act of being helpless, defenseless, not accepting responsibility for their actions. SUV drivers fall into this category of using the mass and size of the vehicle as a replacement for not actively avoiding accidents. On the other extreme are motorcyclists, who have to always be actively avoiding accidents to survive.

Four-wheel drive robs the driver of feedback. "The car driver whose wheels spin once or twice while backing out of the driveway knows that the road is slippery," [Keith] Bradsher writes. "The SUV driver who navigates the driveway and street without difficulty until she tries to brake may not find out that the road is slippery until it is too late." Jettas are safe because they make their drivers feel unsafe. S.U.V.s are unsafe because they make their drivers feel safe. That feeling of safety isn't the solution; it's the problem.

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Most of us think that S.U.V.s are much safer than sports cars. If you asked the young parents of America whether they would rather strap their infant child in the back seat of the TrailBlazer or the passenger seat of the Boxster, they would choose the TrailBlazer. We feel that way because in the TrailBlazer our chances of surviving a collision with a hypothetical tractor-trailer in the other lane are greater than they are in the Porsche. What we forget, though, is that in the TrailBlazer you're also much more likely to hit the tractor-trailer because you can't get out of the way in time. In the parlance of the automobile world, the TrailBlazer is better at "passive safety." The Boxster is better when it comes to "active safety," which is every bit as important.

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"When you feel safe, you can be passive," [French-born cultural anthropologist, G. Clotaire] Rapaille says of the fundamental appeal of the S.U.V. "Safe means I can sleep. I can give up control. I can relax. I can take off my shoes. I can listen to music." For years, we've all made fun of the middle-aged man who suddenly trades in his sedate family sedan for a shiny red sports car. That's called a midlife crisis. But at least it involves some degree of engagement with the act of driving. The man who gives up his sedate family sedan for an S.U.V. is saying something far more troubling--that he finds the demands of the road to be overwhelming. Is acting out really worse than giving up?

I have driven SUVs in the past (specifically a Toyota pickup truck) and I do not plan to buy a SUV unless I have a very real need for it. The AWD station wagons out these days (Subaru Legacy, Audi, Volvo, etc.) will do the job that most SUVs are bought for with much more safety and more efficiently as well.

Big and Bad: How the S.U.V. ran over automotive safety.[gladwell.com]