All modern cars are by legislation equipped with air bags to protect passengers in the event of a collision. A much cheaper & probably more effective solution is to have passengers ride backwards. Politicians proposing & advocating such legislation would likely be voted out of office or worse.
The rearmost seats in our car face backwards. I would oppose any legislation that requires either orientation.
Side and rear impacts, spinouts, etc. Carsickness. Conversation. And awkward engineering in smaller cars, since the driver has to face forwards. Not necessarily cheap to arrange. The best solution was and is effective seat belts (air bags don't add much net safety to good seat belts) - but that requires accepting the fact that some people will not wear them, and get hurt. Those old enough to remember the debate will recall that a major contention of mandatory seat belt proponents was that a belted driver could better maintain control after impact - absurd, of course, but the punch line came later with the airbag, which those exact same people argued for. Meanwhile: https://twitter.com/moodvintage/status/1030005025072926720
Solution: We could have a TV screen, in the middle of the car, and to drive the car with a game controller. This way, seats could be backwards.
Except now visual clues and other sensory feedback will disagree as to what is occurring. Apply the brakes and feel yourself being pushed back in you seat like you were accelerating. Better to play it completely safe and just drive by remote control from the comfort of your chair at homePlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!.
Statistically the chances of being seriously injured in a car while driving in reverse is very low compared to driving forward. Therefore everyone should just drive in reverse and that should significantly lower the injury and death rate from automobile accidents. Problem solved! You're welcome.
Exactly! And most accidents happen within a mile of your home. So if you want to avoid accidents - move.
So walk the first mile to your new home and have someone drive the car to pick you up Then you can drive to within a mile of the new home Your buddy can then drive the last mile to the new home Isn't solving accident problems fun? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
circa 1986 I bought an extended ford van with 3 rows of seats and another 6 ft. for cargo and "captains chairs" that swiveled completely around. My beloved spouse is a reasonably good driver, but the way she does it raises my anxiety level.(aka drives me nuts) And, she likes to drive. So i'd turn the passenger seat around, tilt it back like a recliner and put my feet up on the forward rear seat. Facing backward, I no longer had to see how she was driving, and reclined as I was, I found that riding with her was really comfortable. And, as per the topic of this thread, it would seem, safer too. win/win
From Seattle Post 3 Backward facing seats would be pointless if only as high as a person’s shoulders. I did not think it was necessary to mention the obvious.
I'm going to buy 1986 Ford van. My wife is a front seat backseat driver, who doesn't drive, but suffers from hyper-vigilance.
