Automotive safety has made great strides over the past decade thanks to better materials and major improvements in driver assistance technology. However, there are still limits to what the vehicles can take. In this clip for France, watch the BMW 5 Series Touring speeding at 93 miles per hour (150 kilometers per hour) crash into a concrete wall. The damage is astounding.
For security reasons, the host has equipped the BMW with a remote control system. The guy driving the German wagon wears VR goggles and drives a Tesla to stay within range.
BMW builds speed on the runway. Then, he hit the wall, and his body collapsed. The rear end pointed up, causing the hatch to line up with the top of the obstacle. According to a sensor, the car experiences a force of 64G upon impact.
It’s hard to imagine the front passenger surviving an accident like this because there seems to be nothing left of the car’s nose. While the back of the wagon is at least identifiable, living through the crash back there seems unlikely.
For reference, the speed of 93 mph is more than double the speed safety agencies use when evaluating cars. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety sent a vehicle traveling at 40 mph (64 kph) across an obstacle course. The NHTSA New Car Assessment Program cut this to 35 mph (56 kph) for frontal crash tests.
Traffic accidents remain a major concern in the United States. From January to June 2022, 20,175 people died in motorized traffic accidents, according to the NHTSA death forecast report. This is roughly 0.5 percent higher than the first half of 2021. It is also the highest number of deaths since the first half of 2006.
However, the numbers are not all bad. Looking at just Q2 of 2022, it was the first quarter in the last seven years to see a decline in deaths.
Plus, the death rate from January to June 2022 fell to 1.27 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. This is down from 1.3 in the first half of 2021.
