'Deathtrap' utes top list for fatal crashes

[Goggles]

here we go again......

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/deathtrap-utes-top-list-for-fatal-crashes/2006/08/05/1154198378611.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[SandmanUte]

Wanker jounalists looking for a story!!!!!
All it needs now is a kneejerk reaction from the do gooders and politician trying to cash in on something to attract a bit of attention to themselves. Next thing they'll be trying to ban utes!!!!
Read some of the crap in that story.
Ute and truck collide and man killed. I'm sure if a truck hit your Hyundoo, you'd be equaly dead!!!!
2 pedestrians killed because hit by ute!!!! Would they be OK if a sedan hit them???
etc etc
Half wit journalism like this combined with kneejerk reactions killed of all the high performance cars back in 1974.
I think once the hipo cars are killed off this time, there'll be no more from the factories. Between high fuel prices, bad publicity and media, anti hooning legislations etc, Hipo cars are gonna dissapear eventually.

[VZGEN4]

Further reading...


Death prompts ban call
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/deaths-prompt-ban-call/2006/08/05/1154198378617.html

[Brendan]

God there are some units around.

The loss of the sisters is sad but - walking home from a 21st? Night, pedestrians, no see + drinky driver who would have cleaned them up whatever he was driving.

There is a hell of a lot of drivel in the papers these days.

[BlownVR]

Further reading...


Death prompts ban call
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/deaths-prompt-ban-call/2006/08/05/1154198378617.html
What a crock. I don't hear the guy whining about the fact that the driver was allegedly pissed. And if he had been driving a sedan, would the result be any different? I doubt it...

[Wild_VU]

Hi all , any car driven stupidily and with alcohol or drugs as part of the chemistry will be a dangerous weapon. Yes we all love are cars and we should all be responsible on the roads, because when alot of accidents happen the Books and Stats are thrown at all off us innocent drivers.

"So take the Deathtrap rap and put it in the crap"

[Souljah]

Cool, I drive a Deathtrap :driving:

I really wish these sort of people would take a long walk of a short pier. :fewl:

[Vulture]

These stories are typical gutter journalism. I am willing to bet my left nut that the majority of the utes involved in these crashes are not V8 SSs etc. Reminded me of the breakdown in one of the car mags about the most common cars involved in accidents, in the top 8-10 there was not a single performance car. Huge media beat up over high performance cars reinforcing the perception that they are all driven by idiots and are over-represented in crashes. Apparently, the facts are very different.

From the story (www.theage.com.au)

"Monash University Accident Research Centre spokesman Dr Stuart Newstead said there was anecdotal evidence that more young men were buying souped-up utes instead of other high-powered cars.

One in every seven new cars sold in Australia is a ute with the most popular model, the Toyota Hilux, selling almost 3000 a month.

"For relatively small money you can get a ute with a big V8 engine up front and use that to whatever effect that you want," Dr Newstead said.

"There's always going to be an opportunity for these people to get hold of a vehicle that has substantial performance and use it to bad effect."

Notice the focus on performance without any evidence for it. Typical academic on the payroll of the government road safety organisations.

[CLUB_819]

Alright next ute I get I'll load the back with cement bags to make it the same weight as a sedan and then I can drive how ever I want.

What a load of ____, the jurno's should be culled!.:machinegun:


Cheers
Scotty

[ACT_Cross8]

Maybe we should all put an LS1 in a Camry or a Volvo so we can get those "deathtraps" off the roads too :p

These stories are briliantly written. The only models mentioned are Mitsubishi Triton, Ford Courier/Mazda Bravo, and Toyota Hilux, and somehow it gets interpreted as "we need to take V8 utes off the streets"!

The closing comment of the researcher is "Whatever's popular is popular but it's fundamentally the behaviour of drivers we have to try to curb". THIS is probably his intended message, but funny how the FUN POLICE will twist the message around to suit their own NANNY AGENDAS.

[maloo25]

My Mrs was so irate at the article that she just sent through a letter to the editor lets hope that they publish this in the feedback!!

'I refer to your story dated 6 August 2006 " Death Trap' Utes top list for fatal crashes.
Whilst I can understand that Trevor Hurst and Peter Thompson are understandibly upset at the loss of thier wives respectively, blaming utes and ute owners is not going to solve the problem of DRUNK drivers. I take offence to being outcast as a ute owner due to the stupidity of a DRUNK driver. Mr Hursts comment about the 'the sort of people they attract' is ridiculous and unfounded - Mr Hurst not everyone that owns a ute has shares in bundaberg rum and sports a mullett!! My partner owns a ultility vehicle and is a successfull business owner - is he one of those people you refer too?? Or have you lost sight of the fact at the end of the day your wife was alledgedly killed by a DRUNK driver.

As far as Mr healys comment that young men like hooning around in utes because it symbolised a carefree and single lifestyle - I suggest you look a little closer next time you are driving past a ute and you will more then likely see a loving couple in the ute or even more forboding a WOMAN driving - your a bloody idiot! concentrate on the fact that most of these accidents were caused by the misuse of ALCOHOL or FATIGUE leave utes and ute owners alone!!
What do you drive a bloody VOLVO?

[markone2]

Enjoy it while we can......If these minority groups keep peddling their miss-guided logic, by the year 2017 the one vehicle to top the performance list will be the 1.8 Litre Camry....in beige. While alterations to any vehicles management system will carry a mandatory life sentence :stupid:

[Vulture]

My Mrs was so irate at the article that she just sent through a letter to the editor lets hope that they publish this in the feedback!!


Excellent letter. May I suggest, however, that calling the contributor a "bloody idiot" may not be the best way to get the editor to take the letter seriously (even if they are a bloody idiot). Also, just a small one, but it is my pet peeve: 'your' refers to ownership, as in 'your shoes'; "you're" is the contraction of 'you are'. :hide:

[APCLB]

Further reading...


Death prompts ban call
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/deaths-prompt-ban-call/2006/08/05/1154198378617.html

This journo prolly drives a four wheel drive in the city daily,whats more useful?A ute or a 4wd?Oh & 4wd's dont kill as many ppl?
(srry o/t,4wd's are a pet hate!)

[gaz vyss]

Well i did statistics at the GBR Institute of Tech and I am more concerned with what they are NOT SAYING. Anyone can manipulate stats and this is just another classic case of selecting a small portion of the whole picture and bringing it to the attention of the media.
A gattling gun would be too kind......:cool:

[spank]

well the general public better look out ive recently purchased a so called deathtrap, i cant believe i was allowed by law to buy such a dangerous vehicle, it wont be long now, ill have to hand it back to the government so such a lethal weapon like a maloo wont be in the hands of a maniac killing the innocents left right and centre. i am depressed

[V8BRUTE]

well the general public better look out ive recently purchased a so called deathtrap, i cant believe i was allowed by law to buy such a dangerous vehicle, it wont be long now, ill have to hand it back to the government so such a lethal weapon like a maloo wont be in the hands of a maniac killing the innocents left right and centre. i am depressed

I am not sure whether to take this as sarcasm or not, I have seen you drive :hide:

AAMI's accident stats didn't reflect one performance car in the their top 10 yet a pissed driver can affect the general reputation of a particular type of vehicle, I would love to be an editor for some of these asshat journalists :teach:

[vecommo]

well the general public better look out ive recently purchased a so called deathtrap, i cant believe i was allowed by law to buy such a dangerous vehicle, it wont be long now, ill have to hand it back to the government so such a lethal weapon like a maloo wont be in the hands of a maniac killing the innocents left right and centre. i am depressed

Gold!! :lmao: :lmao:

[GHZ28]

Alright next ute I get I'll load the back with cement bags to make it the same weight as a sedan and then I can drive how ever I want.

What a load of ____, the jurno's should be culled

Well you won't have to.
Here are some actual measurements from my new SS Thunder ute, and a new VZ Clubby. These measurements were taken on precision four corner scales, and are in pounds, with 2.2 pounds per kilo if you want to convert.

This is the format:

Front Left Front Right
Rear Left Rear Right
Total

VZ Thunder Ute
977 1098
814 843
3731
50 litres of fuel remaining

VZ Clubsport
988 1022
839 868
3717
45 l of fuel remaining

So you can see the front/rear balance of both is
very close, as is the actual total weight.

Both were complete cars, driven on the road. The ute
has a bed rubber mat, which weighs 31 pounds, but its
weight would be distributed, not sure how though.

To be honest, I expected my ute to be considerably
lighter than a Clubby, but even without the rubber mat,
they would weigh in within 20 pounds or 10kg of each other.

The traction issues we experience with utes may be more to
do with wheelbase, and suspension dynamics than simply
weight over the rear axle.

Cheers,

Garry

[jerrel]

"...a 2005 VZ Holden SS ute hit them while they walked home from a 21st birthday in late May."

they were most probably drunk, doing silling things like running in front of cars. thats wat i do wen im hammered. they were just unlucky.

[Wayne@GM Motorsport]

well the general public better look out ive recently purchased a so called deathtrap, i cant believe i was allowed by law to buy such a dangerous vehicle, it wont be long now, ill have to hand it back to the government so such a lethal weapon like a maloo wont be in the hands of a maniac killing the innocents left right and centre. i am depressed


Funny stuff

I cant beleive ive survived so long in my over powered death trap :limpy:

80,000 km an not even a scratch :werd:

[SV99]

Well i did statistics at the GBR Institute of Tech and I am more concerned with what they are NOT SAYING. Anyone can manipulate stats and this is just another classic case of selecting a small portion of the whole picture and bringing it to the attention of the media.
A gattling gun would be too kind......:cool:


Yep exactly. any reason to ban something. As i said to the other people.

Ban idiots from breathing and not nice cars. Dont care if its a holden or a ford they are fun to drive.


Surprised the pedestrian council is not on the band wagon.

[ACT_Cross8]

Surprised the pedestrian council is not on the band wagon.

Give them time!!!

[OUTAtheBloo]

"They were work vehicles so were on the road more often than the average car"

So obviously they took this into account when they worked out the stats ?

Whats the chances of someone having a crash that do 10 000km a year, to someone that does 50 000km a year...

quick get out the calculators and make a news story..

What Drival

Dan

[ti0350]

Did they also take into account how many of "work utes" still come from the factory with drum brakes on the rear end..

[Holden Nut]

Enjoy it while we can......If these minority groups keep peddling their miss-guided logic, by the year 2017 the one vehicle to top the performance list will be the 1.8 Litre Camry....in beige. While alterations to any vehicles management system will carry a mandatory life sentence :stupid:If that were the case and I was forced to drive the abovementioned car, I would alter the management system and then walk into the local cop shop.

[Trek52]

You guys are missing the point and becoming defensive about V8's and utes, defense is generally a reaction of someone that knows they are in the wrong.

I love my LS1 and I have also owned utes, but the fact of the story is the you are 2.5 times more likely to die if you have a ute vs a sedan. Simple, same as I am 9 times more likley to die on my motor bike than my car.

Every year I travel 60,000 + km on our roads, in a car, motorbike or pushbike. It seems that everytime I get cut off, carved up or tailgated it is by a tradie in a ute or van generally on their P plates. I am all for big HP cars etc but the fact is that a large number of idiots I see on the roads are young guys driving utes....

The answer is simple, enjoy cars for what they are, but do it at the right time and place....

[VX2VESS]

the brute utes just can't race slide off everywhere, not....

[swingtan]

Here's and interesting point from the original article. At the bottom is a list of 6 "recent accidents" that have involved utes. Of the 6 accidents, 5 of them were located in rural Victoria while the 6th was in an outer Eastern suburb.

Back tracking a bit we see that the article is really based on the fact that while ute's only make up 4.5% of the states cars, they are involved in 15% of fatal accidents. The problem is that most of Victorias cars are in the major cities, not in rural Victoria, so the comparison is skewed.

What really needs to be asked is in the areas that these accidents have occured, what is the ratio of ute's vs other cars? In rural areas, I'd guess that there are many more utes compared with other cars than for the Melbourne meto area. Maybe close on 30% of vehicles in rural areas are utes, I don't know but it wouldn't surprise me. I know it's a lot more that 4.5% though.

As already mentioned, you can use stats to prove anything as long as you only takes the ones you want.

Simon.