Crash test footage

[Loudkraken470]

Had a thought earlier about how the triumphs would do in a official crash test. I did a bit of mooching around on YouTube and found an official Spitfire crash test, but I was more interested in the Vitesse crash test footage, so if anyone knows of where I can watch it or find it that'd be greatly appreciated.

PS, sorry if I'm wrong topic didn't nowhere else to where to put it. Cheers.

[ahebron]

Sorry but sometimes ignorance is sometimes the best option.
As an owner of 2 Vitesse, a saloon and a convertible I have no desire to see how our meccano sets do in a crash test.
The only crash safety feature is possibly the steering column might retract if it hasnt been done up to tight.
The bonnet coming for me could cause pants issues.

I now have an airbag that I can wear when riding my motorbike, I do wonder if they will develop aftermarket systems for older cars.

But there is this which is a Herald

 

and this

 

[PeteH]

There is also the school of thought, that opines that the lack of said safety features makes the pilot more aware of their behaviour and that of others?.

I spent a lot of time on “Elf and Safety”. We used to say lack of it helped to clean the gene pool👍.

Pete

[NonMember]

1 hour ago, PeteH said:

There is also the school of thought, that opines that the lack of said safety features makes the pilot more aware of their behaviour and that of others?

There was some research carried out in Scandinavia some years back, where they took drivers who admitted to not wearing seat belts and got them to drive down a runway towards some cardboard cut-out people, braking as late as they dared. When driving without a seat belt, nearly all of them stopped just short of impact. When driving with a seat belt on, nearly all of them killed the cardboard family.

[rlubikey]

Yes, it's called "Risk Compensation" - the safer you feel, the more risks you take. We all know that on the day front seat belt use was made mandatory, front seat injuries went down dramatically. I seem to recall someone (was it Mayer Hillman?) stating that what's less well known is that injuries outside the car (motor bikers, cyclists, pedestrians) went UP dramatically. The assumption is that drivers were taking more risks because they felt safer. It's certainly an odd feeling driving the Atlas which has no seat belts as it predates all that legislation.

As for Spitfire crash testing, I remember seeing the photos of my colleague's daughter's Spitfire after a head-on collision with a BMW. The idiot Beemer driver had come round a corner on the wrong side of the road. The Spit bonnet had ridden up over the windscreen and the chassis was bent upward at the front (much more so than when it left the factory). But, from the foot-box backwards, it looked pretty straight. Her injuries were bruising and minor cuts from being rattled around violently, restrained by the safety belt in the almost instant deceleration of the crash. She was fine but the car was understandably written off. Of course, this was a head-on. Modern safety standards include glancing head-on colisions, where our old cars may not fair so well.

Cheers, Richard

[PeteH]

It was always said that the introduction of mandatory Crash Helmet wearing whilst saving life from head injury/brain damage, also saw an increase in other injuries?. How true is not quantifiable. There are however still several US state where not mandatory, only advisable. We saw a fair few riders, not wearing them, even though they clearly had them, ostensibly one assumes to comply with the law in other states?

As an aside my first RV import had no belts. When queried to the ministry I was told not fitted, not required. As late as 2010. We still drove lorries that where not fitted with them either. However where fitted  it was illegal not to wear them.

Pete

Edited March 19, 2023 by PeteH