What is safer, a new sports car doing 120 on the motorway, or a clapped out mondeo or similar doing 80?

Answer 1

At first I was wondering why you had chosen 120 and 80, but then I realised that you are most likely talking non-metric, like fahrenheit or something :-D

Seriously, the type of car, or the speed, is irrelevant. What matters is the experience of the driver. Some people are unsafe doing 50 (using your numbers), and others can safely manage 120 without any dramas.

There is a lot of talk about speed being the only factor in vehicle accidents (at least in Australia), but a large percentage of drivers (especially young drivers) have zero experience, coupled with the attitude of Superman. Not a good combination.

And for the record, I hope that the Sports Car is an Audi R8 :-P

Answer 2

Well, it depends what you mean by 'clapped out' but as long as the Mondeo is minimally road worthy it is safer. Why? well a big part of the stopping distance is reacting time and a car doing 120 will travel half as far again in that time as the car doing 80 and that's more than the sports car can reclaim with better brakes, etc.

Also, I have crashed a car at 80 and walked away unscathed, I doubt I would be alive at 120.

Answer 3

Clapped out Mondeo... if it's roadworthy, MOT and legal and your version of clapped out mean's it is 'old', then definately the Mondeo.

A new car, Ferrari whatever sports car, at 120 makes no odds. Re-action times and reflexes have to be quicker at speed and breaking distance is increased.

Answer 4

There is no correct answer to this question.

If your real question is "does going fast kill you sooner?", then the the answer is probably yes.

There are too many mitigating factors to give a black or white answer (road conditions-weather-the driver-other motorists etc), but the newer car will certainly be better equipped to handle higher speeds safely. BUT and it is a big but, all RTC`s will have a degree of driver culpability.
Speed is OK in the right circumstances. The Race Track.
If you want to kill yourself that's fine, don`t involve anybody else.

Answer 5

both would be considered very dangerous anyways because of the excess speed both are going. safety wise it is all about how much control you have with the vehicle regardless how fast you are going if comparing these two scenarios. even if you are going far above the speed limit, as long as if you have really good brakes and know how to respond to the dangerous hazard ahead, you would be safer, rather than having a vehicle that you can hardly control, even if you are driving the speed limit. of these two, i would choose a new sports car going 120mph as being safer.

Answer 6

Dont be dissin' on the beata'z playa! That old rustbucket pickup from the early 70s may end up dragging your car out of a ditch one of these days. I drive an '85 F150. Daily drive, that is, as in I drive nothing else but and drive it every day for everything I need to drive to do. It's got 190K on the clock and working it's way tords 200K. It's just as reliable as the day it was made. It's got an inline 6 and a wide-ratio 4speed. It has trouble maintaining 70MPH, it's either 60 or 80 with that thing, depending on if it's uphill/downhill and whether I'm drafting someone. It has this habit of getting a little warm under it's faded and rusted collar, and has one hell of a power steering leak. The steering has been a few degrees off to the left(tracks laser straight, just the wheel points to the left) since the last ice age and the brakes pull to the right. Does that mean it's not fit for the road? No, it's just as reliable and safe as it's successor. So what if it aint got no fancy-smancy 25-way gold-embroidered airbags, ABS with impact-sensing electronics, tire pressure monitoring system(yet more proof american drivers are getting stupider), electronic stabiliy or 15-way crumple zones? It's got genuine chrome-plated steel bumpers, not that plastic 'pedestrian-resistant injection-moulded resin safety bumper' BS that plagues new cars. These things are so hard that if you kick them, they kick back harder. Hit one with a sledgehammer and you MIGHT dent it(the rear one aint movin, bub), you'll definatly bust the hammer handle and you might even send the hammerhead into your shin. They didnt even have anti-roll electronics and multi-function ABS systems that, when detecting understeer or oversteer, brake the appropriate wheel to force-feed a corrective push to the vehicle. It doesnt even have power windows! If you had a truck with power windows in 1985, you were loaded. This thing has a nature-aided three-tone body color. The parking brake cables have been rusted in the off position since the last disco closed. It is the stereotypical beater redneck truck minus the bad emissions(it outpassed an OBDII car I had with half the miles). There's twenty years of mud on the fenders, some of it I added just today. I've even named it, 'Earl'. One doesnt expect a vehicle named 'Earl' to be the best performer around. All one expects out of an Earl is stone cold reliability, that 'Spin me I'll start I dont care if I'm older than the dirt on my fenders' attitude that's strangely missing from modern vehicles. Am I really that much of a hazard driving Earl?


No. I would be as dangerous as a maniac with a gun if I drove Earl as if he were straight off the NASCAR circuit. Earl isnt a racetruck, so Earl doesnt get driven as such. Earl is driven like any old truck should be, at the speed limit and well under control. No beater is a hazard if it's driven sensibly and is able to make the speed limit of the road on which it travels. It only becomes a problem when an idjit driver decides to bump into it, as old truck + new SUV = SUV torn open like sardine can, old truck out headlight bezel. If the beater cannot make 65 or so, said beater is to be retired from freeway travel untill it is repaired to the point it can once more make 65MPH.


BTW, most beaters are so old that they lack the power to sustain 80 much longer than they have that downhill and draft. Once one is lost, they generally slow back down. Earl behaves in this manner. If I keep him floored, he'll happily maintain 75 with nary a ping. Fuel mileage sucks *** tho...

Answer 7

its safer to follow the laws and regulations to all road safety issues
note that new or clapped out the mot of a vehicle is only valid for 1 day, it is up to the owner to keep it in good working order.
keep it real and keep it safe

Answer 8

I dont know what a mondeo is but it sounds like an ole beater to me.

Answer 9

Probably the 120mph car, but at the end of the day it only takes one idiot to ruin your whole day. I suggest 70mph.