>So how do you "total" a vehicle and still drive it away from the scene?
>Something tells me that car was far from totaled, and with some parts from a
>junkyard Civic it woulda been good as new.

It was only totaled for insurance purposes. We could have fixed it up
a bit and kept driving it, but the accident drove home the point that
the car wouldn't be very safe in an accident. If the SUV had hit it
from the side instead of head-on, the chances for survival would be
slim to none.

>A cars longevity is _directly_ related to how it is cared for. My '67 lasted
>200,000 miles before a major failure... Which was likely the result of abuse
>and lack of maintenance by previous owners. My '68 has 95,000 miles and is
>still going strong. Starts up every time and gets me where I need to go.
>Both of my old Fords have been very reliable cars. As for your previous
>comment about reliability in relation to cost of repairs, that's ridiculous.
>It's the type of repair that says things about the car. If you spend those
>couple hundred bucks on normal maintenance or parts that typically wear out
>in that amount of time then sure, it's a reliable car. If that money was
>spend on unforeseeable things that should not have failed, then it's not a
>reliable car.

Good point. No matter what car I drive, I'm going to take care of it,
do regular maintenance, etc. I'm interested in how well the car is
built though, and how often the unforseeable failures you mentioned
happen. With our old Civic they DIDN'T happen, which is more than I
can say for any other car I've driven before or since.


>You must be delusional. How do lots of trucks/SUVs on the road make it "even
>harder and more dangerous to drive a reasonably sized vehicle"? I drive a
>reasonably sized vehicle (full-size passenger car) and have no trouble
>whatsoever with regards to trucks/SUVs. I don't see how the type of vehicles
>you share the road with will make the road more dangerous. So long as they
>can move with traffic (i.e. not tractors and such) there is no increased
>danger.
>

By danger, I'm not talking about the chances of getting into an
accident. I'm talking about the chances of surving the random
accident that WILL happen eventually if you spend enough time on the
road. If you have the best skills in the world and the fastest and
most nimble car on the road, that won't help you a bit when some drunk
swerves into your lane with no warning or some kid changing CD's
rear-ends you at a red light. If they're driving a car smaller than
or equal to the size of yours you'll probably survive. If they're
driving an SUV and you're in a compact car 1/8th as heavy as theirs,
you're screwed. Since SUVs have been outselling cars for some time
now, the proportion of SUVs relative to cars on the roads is
increasing, and therefore the chance that the random person who hits
you is driving an SUV instead of a car is also increasing.


>Careless driving is found in drivers of all types of vehicles and is evenly
>distributed between them. I suggest you stop being so paranoid about dying
>in an accident and just accept the risk involved in driving. Start learning
>to drive better, and how to avoid accidents. Play a game with yourself
>whenever your alone in the car... Imagine other vehicles or circumstances
>putting you in harms way, and then think of the various ways to get yourself
>out of harms way. Do this enough and you will get fast at it, so if it were
>to really happen you would know what to do in time to do it.
>

I do accept that there is risk involved in driving. But I'll be
damned if I'm not going to do everything possible to minimize that
risk. I probably am paranoid, but these days when the average person
drives a vehicle 5x as large as they need, you'd better be paranoid if
you're driving a small car. People are driving offroad, industrial,
and even military grade vehicles to commute and go between their
houses and the K-Mart parking lot because the advertisers tell them
they have to in order to fit the right image. Me- I just want a car
that gets me from point A to point B and will do so EVERY time with no
bullshit status symbols or image related expenses.

Like you said, careless driving is found in drivers of all types of
vehicle- but today the chances are greater that Joe Careless will be
driving a Suburban when he starts driving like an asshole and hits me.
Not because of anything about SUV's that attracts this kind of person,
but just because they are popular vehicles and more of them are on the
road today.