Thread: Disco vs. Defender?

Originally Posted by Dougal

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Put simply, in any head on, the heavier vehicles occupants take less impact. You put any 5 star 1 ton car head on into a 1 star 2 ton 4wd and the 4 star difference becomes very insignificant.

Exactly...

Tyre pressure not down far enough on the deefer to do the rock hill climb IMHO, based on what they look like on the video (on my iphone).

Originally Posted by goingbush

All the safety features in my Brothers ANCAP 4 star rated 4x4 did not stop his wife & unborn child being killed in a crash on the Calder a few years ago.

And that is the reality of it right there^


Drive cautiously and safely, pay attention to your surroundings.
Be vigilant where possible and show patience and respect for all other road users.


Sad to hear such a thing GoingBush - puts it all in perspective.


Drive like everyone else is out to kill you - the extra care and attention may save your life or that of people you care about.

And Do NOT for one minute think that the vehicle will protect you.
Yes some are better than others - but it means nothing in many cases.

Just go to Otway and have a look in the SAPOL compound - I have.

The lesser damaged vehicles are often the ones in which the Fatality occurred.

As I said, there are no winners in this discussion, just opinions.

You cannot take any single situation and apply the result as a given to all crashes, the dynamics of every crash are different.

Yes, I can apply the mathematical equation relating to force as well....physics was part of my degree. The problem with that is that far more maths than that simpe equation are required to understand the dynamics of the crash.

The disco versus defender was a hypothetical situation and using my own experience as well as the maths, I stand by my answer.

The reality is that real crashes don't follow the maths....there are many other variables. .....angle of impact, co efficient of the road surface, how much each car braked if at all, individual speed of the vehicles at impact variation in vehicle dynamics such as height, mass, where the cars actually touch, is it a full front, which is very rare, usually it's a half contact .....so simply applying a basic force equation is not the complete truth.

People still die in modern equipped cars and people will always survive in defender type cars.....that is the law of averages....and proof that the crash dynamics are never the same or a simple thing to work out.

But all things being equal, the modern airbag etc equipped car is a safer option. Tombie is absolutely correct in saying the biggest safety item in any car is the driver. ...but crashes are not always your fault and not always avoidable.

I haven't looked at the Audi picture, I don't need to. But if one of the variable of that collision had been different, then the outcome may also have been different for both cars.

Again, as Tombie says, drive safely, don't rely on your car to save you, you cannot predict what type of crash you might be unfortunate to be involved in. Don't be mislead by one photo and apply that to all situations....

The comment earlier about head ons not being common doesn't take into account the roads around here. Head ons at high speed are quite common on the Barton Highway.

But safety is only one issue. I trust the Defender but in a roll over it is going to be flat.
The Fiat I X1/9 I drive is more likely to end up under the bigger 4wd's around me on the road. At least it has those horrid monster bumpers.

Originally Posted by George130

The comment earlier about head ons not being common doesn't take into account the roads around here. Head ons at high speed are quite common on the Barton Highway.

What is causing that?

Heavy commuter traffic mixed with learners and city holiday motorists. You also have people trying to enter from side roads into 100km'h zones. They have also removed the safe overtaking points but left some of the stupid ones. Latest claim is over a 24 hour period there is not enough traffic to upgrade to a dual carridge way yet in the peak times the lines of traffic are huge. What used to be a 45 minute run can now blow out anywhere up to double that.
Motorists are taking bigger chances to get ahead and tailgate. The maintenance seams to always be on the good bits while ignoring the shokking parts. Strangly most accidents seam to be where the road is better and I would have thought you can't crash without being daft.
I'm regurly finding we drop from 100 to 40 km/h for no apparent reason these days but then you can't see the front of the line or the back.
Oh and at night most don't dip their lights anymore and that includes the truck and bus drivers

Originally Posted by Tombie

Drive like everyone else is out to kill you - the extra care and attention may save your life or that of people you care about.

I spent 25 years riding a postie motorbike, on becoming a postie bike rider, we had to do an advanced bike rider course, & every 2 years a 2 day refresher course. The over riding message on the course was just that, everyone else IS out to kill you.[ any bike rider will know what I mean] I believe every new driver must have a defensive driving course as part of the licence requirements. AND refresher courses . Bob.