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I got a phonecall this afternoon from a friend of mine who is the very proud and protective owner of a brand new BA XR8. He has not long bought this car and naturally after outlaying $50K+ for it, he likes to look after it.
So you can imagine my surprise when he tells me that his car has been written off and his wife in hopsital after a crash with a 4WD. I don't know the specifics of the crash, I don't know who was at fault, but in this case I don't think it matters.
From what he told me, the 4WD has hit his car on the passenger side, pretty much directly into the pillar in front of the front door. Because it had a bullbar, the entire side just crumpled and it was very unfortunate that his wife happened to be sitting in the passenger seat at the time this happened.
So now I am asking the question - why is it that we allow these people who live in cities (this accident occured in a residential area btw) to drive Four Wheel Drives with Bullbars? Not so long ago we had the huge debate about just how safe bullbars were when it came to pedestrians, yet it seems little has been done to address what is a very significant problem.
More often than not (in my experience at least), the majority of 4WD owners/drivers are mums who use these things to go to the shops, take the kids to school and what have you. They feel safe up above everyone else, protected by a gigantic lump of steel that is stuck to the front of the car - god help anyone or anything who might get in the way of it.
Personally I feel that is unacceptable. It seems everyone sees car loads of P platers 'dangerous', and whilst this may not be comparing apples with apples, I think inexperienced drivers who have no grasp of the limits of the vehicle they are driving are just as bad. Had my friend's car been hit just a few centimetres back, his wife would be most probably fighting for her life, as it is now she hasn't exactly walked away from the crash.
I guess it is just because my car was severely damaged by one, as well as myself being knocked out and having glass showered all over me in a crash involving a bullbarred 4WD a few weeks back, and now this happening, that I am getting really p!ssed off about these things. But seriously, regardless of who is at fault in an accident, or how it happens, the fact is that bullbars are extremely dangerous, and the majority of people I see with them have absolutely no use for a 4WD. I realise that may be a bit of a generalisation, but seriously, something has to be done about them before someone else gets hurt or dies.
So you can imagine my surprise when he tells me that his car has been written off and his wife in hopsital after a crash with a 4WD. I don't know the specifics of the crash, I don't know who was at fault, but in this case I don't think it matters.
From what he told me, the 4WD has hit his car on the passenger side, pretty much directly into the pillar in front of the front door. Because it had a bullbar, the entire side just crumpled and it was very unfortunate that his wife happened to be sitting in the passenger seat at the time this happened.
So now I am asking the question - why is it that we allow these people who live in cities (this accident occured in a residential area btw) to drive Four Wheel Drives with Bullbars? Not so long ago we had the huge debate about just how safe bullbars were when it came to pedestrians, yet it seems little has been done to address what is a very significant problem.
More often than not (in my experience at least), the majority of 4WD owners/drivers are mums who use these things to go to the shops, take the kids to school and what have you. They feel safe up above everyone else, protected by a gigantic lump of steel that is stuck to the front of the car - god help anyone or anything who might get in the way of it.
Personally I feel that is unacceptable. It seems everyone sees car loads of P platers 'dangerous', and whilst this may not be comparing apples with apples, I think inexperienced drivers who have no grasp of the limits of the vehicle they are driving are just as bad. Had my friend's car been hit just a few centimetres back, his wife would be most probably fighting for her life, as it is now she hasn't exactly walked away from the crash.
I guess it is just because my car was severely damaged by one, as well as myself being knocked out and having glass showered all over me in a crash involving a bullbarred 4WD a few weeks back, and now this happening, that I am getting really p!ssed off about these things. But seriously, regardless of who is at fault in an accident, or how it happens, the fact is that bullbars are extremely dangerous, and the majority of people I see with them have absolutely no use for a 4WD. I realise that may be a bit of a generalisation, but seriously, something has to be done about them before someone else gets hurt or dies.