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This is a great problem to try and solve, but I can't help but think that there are already vehicles out there which more-or-less fit the bill. The humble Toyot

by alex_h 16y ago

This is a great problem to try and solve, but I can't help but think that there are already vehicles out there which more-or-less fit the bill. The humble Toyota pickup, for example, has already been put to many uses on this continent. eg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War

benologist 16y ago
Pickup trucks, chicken buses etc don't solve the problem of safety though ... developing countries have awful road fatality rates and a death in the family / loss of vehicle just adds to the problem. Safe, modern vehicles cost so much relatively they're a similar financial commitment to a 20 year mortgage.
- joe_the_user 16y ago
  I read an article ten years ago claiming that the American school bus was the single safest form of transportation in the US, carrying millions of children with a fatality rate of less than 1 per year. School buses might not have safety belts but the combination of machinery and procedures they do use apparently works very well. School bus driving is very regulated. Cars and other personal vehicles have generally had a poor safety record. Traffic accidents are still a leading cause of death in the US, though they have gone down. What is the fundamental reason for this? A personal vehicle has the problem of a random person rather than a professional driver driving it. This leaves one open to drunk, unqualified, distracted, angry, suicidal or whatever drivers (of course, you can that problem with a professional but it's quite likely to be less so). Getting more personal vehicles into an area that is relatively more lawless would only magnify their problems. Thus more personal vehicles would not increase the safety of third world roads. Instead, increasing bus driver training, improving roads and similar less sexy measures seem in order.
StrawberryFrog 16y ago
Top Gear concurs: http://www.streetfire.net/video/top-gear-tries-to-destroy-the-toyota-hilux_105017.htm http://www.streetfire.net/video/top-gear-tries-to-destroy-th...

by alex_h 16y ago

benologist 16y ago

Pickup trucks, chicken buses etc don't solve the problem of safety though ... developing countries have awful road fatality rates and a death in the family / loss of vehicle just adds to the problem. Safe, modern vehicles cost so much relatively they're a similar financial commitment to a 20 year mortgage.

joe_the_user 16y ago
I read an article ten years ago claiming that the American school bus was the single safest form of transportation in the US, carrying millions of children with a fatality rate of less than 1 per year. School buses might not have safety belts but the combination of machinery and procedures they do use apparently works very well. School bus driving is very regulated. Cars and other personal vehicles have generally had a poor safety record. Traffic accidents are still a leading cause of death in the US, though they have gone down. What is the fundamental reason for this? A personal vehicle has the problem of a random person rather than a professional driver driving it. This leaves one open to drunk, unqualified, distracted, angry, suicidal or whatever drivers (of course, you can that problem with a professional but it's quite likely to be less so). Getting more personal vehicles into an area that is relatively more lawless would only magnify their problems. Thus more personal vehicles would not increase the safety of third world roads. Instead, increasing bus driver training, improving roads and similar less sexy measures seem in order.

StrawberryFrog 16y ago

Top Gear concurs: http://www.streetfire.net/video/top-gear-tries-to-destroy-the-toyota-hilux_105017.htm http://www.streetfire.net/video/top-gear-tries-to-destroy-th...