MPG

I don't think modern safety features make a car safer, they just compensate for the fact that the car is less solidly built, can go faster, and is easier to drive and therefore open to less proficient drivers. Take the simplest example of power steering. Without it you have to think about some of your manouevres unless you're hercules, because if you do something the car doesn't want you to do, you're going to have to wrestle with the steering. Now if you want to take a tight bend at 90mph but the car wants to go straight on (in accordance with the laws of physics), you can just turn the wheel with one hand, throw the car out of control, and then pray that all your state of the art safety features work.

 

It is actually illegal to put a vehicle in neutral (Coasting) when driving on the highway. If caught, you could end up losing your licence and paying a hefty fine.

 

No but the perception is that they are safer. Think airbags, ABS, even windscreens that no longer shatter but just crack. All of those features give an illusion of safety.

Larkshall, I was taught that "driving" in neutral means you are not in control of the car, because you cannot accelerate or engine brake if not in gear.

 

I agree its about perception. Its odd that folks who will claim to be open minded will be easily brainwashed by marketing hype. A car has an airbag and therefore you'll be ok in a crash. Ok, what they ads don't tell people is that if your seat is not correctly adjusted, or your seat belt is too slack, the airbag can actually kill you. They also neglect to mention that the airbag is only there because modern manufacturing using lighter, weaker materials, in smaller cars with less crumple zone, means the car would never pass the EU safety tests if they didn't find a way to compensate for the weaker build. I do agree with some safety features though. Side impact protection beams, ABS and automatic fuel cut-off switches should be on every car I reckon. But the main thing I don't get about this perception of safety is that no matter how good your seat belts, pretensioners, airbags, SIPS etc are, if you crash at say 70mph, your body, and the vital organs it contains, are still going to decelerate very, very, rapidly, so its still going to hurt. I once read somewhere that a significant number of fatalities in car crashes are not caused by things smashing the body, but by vital organs obeying the laws of physics and trying to continue at 70mph when everything else has stopped.

 

"It is actually illegal to put a vehicle in neutral (Coasting) when driving on the highway."

Indeed, but my question is why?

I can't engine brake if I'm in top - I have to change down (I can do that from neutral too). I can rarely accelerate out of danger unless I change down - normally if I am in a situation where I might need to accelerate I am in the right gear (i.e. not in neutral!). In an emergency I need a lower gear (usually) before it will do any good.

I do remember being taught (but a long time ago of course!!) that being in neutral meant I wasn't in control, but now I question why?

I change down through the gears when approaching a situation (corner, passing parked cars, etc.) which requires, say, 2nd gear, which is what I was taught, and "feels right".

I believe they now teach folk to brake and then select the appropriate gear - so brake in 6th, say, and then change to 2nd to pull away. IF that's the case then I don't see being in neutral being much different!