If you're automobile shopping, read this

I've been researching auto safety related to accidents (I had a friend total 2 cars in 8 days.... lol). I decided to see what data I could learn about risks related to cars. I'm sharing because I don't want people I care about to die. :)

The highest risk factor of dying ages 1-34 is automobile related accidents (source, Forbes). Which means when I go to protect my family, the safety of the car is the top things I can do to protect my famdam.

All cars have to pass a basic Highway safety (NHTSA) test. Beyond that basic test, there is an enormous difference in safety. Not like 30-40%, like multiples, like 21x. After statistical balancing: 232 dead with a dangerous car, only 13 with a safe car.

The IIHS is somewhat to safety what Consumer Reports is to reliability. They're a non-profit insurance organization that puts out information related to auto-safety. They analyzed 125,000 accidents that resulted in fatalities. From the safest vehicle to the most dangerous vehicle equally certified by the NHTSA, you are 21x more likely to die in a fatal accident. That's a lot more dead people because they bought the wrong car. Incidently, that vehicle is the Chevy Blazer, 2-door (Autumn had a friend's friend die in an accident in one (http://www.iihs.org/externaldata/srdata/docs/sr4204.pdf)

It's a good study. It's adjusted for sex of the driver (men are 2x more likely, even after making adjustments to die in accidents? roar!) and other driver demographics, it's adjusted for number of vehicles on the road, it uses confidence intervals. And if you stare at the numbers for a bit, you see patterns between automakers (Mitsubishi = death, Toyota = happy face) and brands inside of single automaker (my Avalon is somewhat safer than a Camry, which is somewhat safer than a Corolla).

Incidently, greater mass is a significant increaser of safety (in the rock-papper-sissors of car accidents, large beats small). Intuitive. Although it's interesting to note that trucks are usually much less safe than SUV's. Not intuitive.

The IIHS puts out a search engine for determining the safety of different vehicles during different years: http://www.iihs.org/ratings/default.aspx. It's less useful than the study becase it's much less exact (three categories of good, ave, bad isn't nearly as good as an index, which I like to call the death index, which shows degrees of good->bad which vary enormously).

Based on how I drove in HS, it's a miracle I'm alive right now... but my dad was wise to put me in a huge, heavy car.

Couple last comments:
* night-time driving is 3x riskier per mile driven than day-time driving (ie, be more alert, wear eye glasses)
* for a future car, electronic stability control (ESC) reduces single-vehicle accident risk by 40% and fatality risk by 56% and rollover risk by 80% (IIHS article)

If a loved one is in an accident, it may be a random accident. However, the probability of their safety is not random. It's largely based on the automobile they're inside.

The article with safety index for different cars is at: http://www.iihs.org/externaldata/srdata/docs/sr4204.pdf.