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This is only the second death I have heard of in a fortwo.
Not bad going really.
unless you happen to be one of the two. but the real point is - how many other web forums devoted to specialty vehicles have statistics on how many people die a year in that vehicle? i've never seen one. i have a feeling that if we smart owners felt the fortwo was not safe enough for ourselves or our families, we wouldn't have bought one.


reagrds,

ken
 
at least one in the fictional realm: I for one was upset at the portrayal in the recent woody allen movie where he crashed a smart car (which was cast for comic relief in the first place) off-screen and his character died, as if it were a foregone conclusion that would happen; the script was playing to, and thus reinforcing the audience's (false or at least uninformed) expectation.
cheap shot I thought.
 
unless you happen to be one of the two. but the real point is - how many other web forums devoted to specialty vehicles have statistics on how many people die a year in that vehicle? i've never seen one. i have a feeling that if we smart owners felt the fortwo was not safe enough for ourselves or our families, we wouldn't have bought one.


reagrds,

ken
check out Elisetalk.com. While they may not have stats, there have been plenty of fatality reports, often poster/members of their community being the victims.
 
how many other web forums devoted to specialty vehicles have statistics on how many people die a year
We simply don't need to, journalists, media and newspapers are always hot on deaths in small "dangerous" cars like the smart. When the first guy died it was in every paper, everyone who knew a smart owner was pointing it out, people joined the forum just to post it and explain how dangerous the fortwo is :rolleyes:

The fact is this, on both occasions a death has happened in a smart through an accident, the death would have happened in almost every other car on the road. Head on collisions don't tend to have a happy ending.
 
From www.tonight.co.za

Mystery surrounds Isidingo star's death
February 18, 2008

Send your messages to Ashley Callie's family

By Karyn Maughan and Louise Flanagan

The driver who allegedly fatally collided with Isidingo star Ashley Callie has yet to explain the accident to the police - despite being released from hospital over a week ago.

Speaking to The Star, metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar further revealed that the driver and his four teenage passengers were not tested for alcohol or drugs after the red Renault they were travelling in allegedly smashed into Callie's Smart Car.

"We were trying to save people's lives... Everyone on the scene was injured and we had to concentrate on getting them proper treatment."

Minnaar said the February 8 horror smash had left the police no clues as to its cause.

"There was absolutely nothing there to tell us what had happened," he said.

Minnaar was unable to provide any time-frame for when the police would question the 21-year-old Renault driver, adding that culpable homicide investigations "usually take months and months to finalise".

"The police will interview the driver... but it should be left in the hands of the investigator as to when that happens," he said.

He said the Callie docket would be handed over to Linden police station for further investigation after the metro police's initial investigations were complete.

Callie is best known for her role as Lee Haines in Isidingo. She won an award for Best Actress in a Soapie for her role in the drama series at the inaugural South African Film and Television Awards in October 2006. Producers have yet to decide how to write her out of the series.

Callie - who suffered severe head injuries during the accident and remained in a coma for seven days - was surrounded by her father Graham, mother Claire and sister Lauren when she died in Johannesburg Hospital on Friday afternoon.

In the hours before the accident that would ultimately claim her life, 32-year-old Callie attended a function hosted by Pirelli at Summer Place in Sandhurst. Described as "radiant" by media reports, she posed for pictures and chatted with her Isidingo co-stars before leaving the event early.


Her plans for the weekend included a Saturday morning "Woolworths brunch" with her manager, Mairi Surtees Cameron, to discuss her plans to host a cookery show.

It is understood she was driving home to Northcliff when her car was in a head-on collision with a Renault at the traffic lights at the intersection of 3rd Avenue and Tana Road in Linden about 10.30pm.

Wilting flowers now hang in the fence facing the intersection.

The Renault, reportedly containing two Korean sisters, a North American teenage girl and two young men, is believed to have driven south down the short, steep hill in 3rd Avenue into the intersection.

"The impact was almost in the centre of that intersection," said Netcare 911 spokesperson Mark Stokoe, who was at the scene that night.

The Renault landed on its roof in the north-bound lane, facing north, and Callie's Smart Car was upright in the north-bound lane, also facing north. Both were severely damaged.

"When we got there, most of the patients had been thrown out of the vehicles," said Stokoe.

Initially, paramedics believed that one of the Korean girls was more badly injured than Callie. She is understood to be receiving treatment at Milpark Hospital.

"She wasn't totally unconscious but had a decreased level of consciousness," said Stokoe.

One of three ambulance services at the scene, ER24, took Callie to Johannesburg Hospital - a state hospital - because she didn't have medical aid. "We had no idea that it was Ashley," said Stokoe.

Callie's sister Lauren on Sunday said her memorial service would be held at the Johannesburg Country Club on Thursday from 10am.

* This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on February 18, 2008
A little more info here but not much.
 
Pick ANY model of car, large or small, expensive or not, and I'll bet you can find a fatality associated with it. What's the point? A fatality, while unfortunate, is hardly a scientific safety study. These kinds of incidents just reinforce what people want to believe anyway.
 
unless you happen to be one of the two. but the real point is - how many other web forums devoted to specialty vehicles have statistics on how many people die a year in that vehicle? i've never seen one. i have a feeling that if we smart owners felt the fortwo was not safe enough for ourselves or our families, we wouldn't have bought one.


reagrds,

ken
I guess my question is whether such a statistic actually exists for the Smart car. There's the death in Canada where a smart hit head on with a Mack truck and then the Renault (which I thought was a car but I just read someone mentioned a van, so maybe there are three deaths????). But how or where do we really get information on the total number of injuries/deaths from Smarts? I mean the head on with a Mack truck was big news as was this famous Actress. I'm just a regular person, so I suspect if I died in one in my hometown I doubt it would go public...or is there a special place to find these statistics?
 
Just curious if the Actress was driving a 450 or 451?

-Tom L.
I'm 99% sure I read it was a 451 ForTwo. I read a bunch of articles about it. I guess they have 451s available in South Africa?

Someone wrote that there is no crumple zone that the Smart uses the others cars crumple zone and that they feared hitting another Smart. Well, I guess hitting something without a crumple zone might prove deadly. Maybe wearing a half helmet to avoid head injuries like on a motorcycle might be necessary for those who really want to be safe, but of course nobody wears helmets inside a car. I guess I'm still not convinced it's as safe as people are making it out to be especially when there was the head on collision with that mercedes S series test where the Smart was tossed around like dice at a Craps table. yet Smart edited this part out of the video, they cut the video off after the Smart used the Mercedes crumple zone it bounces and rolls around. I'm not saying the Smart isn't safe...I think it's safe enough for its size though and definitely safer than anything else its size.
 
I like that one comment were the guy said hitting a chevy or ford with a Smart car is like hitting a garbage can with a brick. The Smart being the brick.
I liked what he wrote too, however the discussion between vehicles on a chassis versus a unibody design and how unibody design for absorbing the impact is superior (what Volvo uses). I don't know. I'm skeptical that a brick is good for the body in terms of deceleration. Again, I still would buy the smart car even if it were deemed unsafe...I think it's safe enough, but I do think it's not as safe as it's being made out to be. But that's just my opinion.

Nobody expects to be in an accidents and yes most accidents are the operators fault, however I don't care how careful you are on the road you are still at risk. 1 in 82 people will die in an automobile accident in the U.S., so it's much more risky to drive a car than it is to join the military during war time.
 
There are two main types of smart drivers:

Type A: Drivers who buy into all that is smart. Space efficiency, gas mileage, design, how completely it can be recycled, and proving that small cars can be good for the world and its drivers. Every Smart owner proves the model - a diesel smart will come, an electric smart, along with many competitors which will force the Smart to be better.

Type B: Drivers who think it's cute or trendy (like most Hybrid drivers)


Type B drivers don't want to hear about fatalities, and they don't care about statistics, they have a cute little car.

Type A drivers want to hear, want to tell the masses. The Smart has been out for 10 years, there is a ton of data on safety and survivability, I would like to know what it is. When somebody tells me the smart is a death trap - I don't want to counter with "no it isn't" - I want to say, "Over the last 10 years the smart has less fatalities per mile driven than X." On American roads, the Smart will need to be proven again, and we are the ones who will do it.

(and I don't even own a Smart yet)
 
All I know is that my mom was in a horrendous car accident 26 years ago, was lucky enough to survive, yet her life (and those near her) continue to be impacted by this event. The back of her car was clipped when a semi-truck attempted to cut across three lanes to make an exit. Like a pinball, she was struck three times by the truck. Consequently, safety is always a consideration for us.

We can court denial and talk about defensive driving or fate but we can all die in a car. In reviewing the various crash tests on the Smart, it's evident Daimler has done their due diligence and would like their buyers to have the opportunity to buy another one of their products. It looks like this car has been engineered with a different approach than just absorbing the impact. In the more extreme impacts, it tends to bounce or roll but still stay intact, just like the walnut they compare it to.
 
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