As an Approved Driving Instructor of many years standing I have been rear-ended when carrying out my lawful business and displaying regulatory ‘L’ plates and even displaying my driving school logos. This usually happens at roundabouts. Law, training or sensibility does not prevent this type of collision.
Unfortunately my clients prefer me to teach in a small car which gets rear ended from time to time.
The European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) crash test is designed to protect the car occupants when crashed into a concrete block. Big heavy cars hit the block with more force so have to have a rigid construction to prevent the bulk of the car from folding up. Unfortunately the drivers of these heavy cars tend not to hit concrete blocks. They have a propensity to hit smaller cars like mine and because small cars are not constructed out of concrete – they squash. Goods vehicles which are not derived from cars need not demonstrate their ability to protect the driver who steers into a concrete block. They tend to hit cars which fold up. A mum anxious to protect her brood might consider driving a truck rather than an off-road vehicle. Even their 4X4s would come off second best in a collision with a truck.
I propose a level playing field – metaphorically speaking. Please could we replace the concrete block in crash tests with an idealised small car? A large vehicle hitting the test rig should not cause the device to jerk forward causing certain injury to imaginary occupants. There are, after all more cars on the road than concrete blocks.