Does VRT prevent safer cars?

Nuttzz

I was looking at a few other threads here especially about penalty points and accidently exceeding the speed limit by 5mph or there abouts and got thinking that if you had cruise control you wouldnt drift over or under the speed limit without meaning to.

Most car specs that we get here are very basic considering whats available in the UK and Europe because VRT just pushes the prices higher, So if VRT was removed additional safety equipment (like CC, sat nav etc) would be more common on cars here and help drivers drive more safety.

mike65

I would be reluctant to buy into that line of reasoning if only because its the driver who can best prevent accidents and promote safer driving.

Mike.

Seth Brundle

As Mike said, accidents are caused by driver error not because they don't have 47 airbags.
However, it could be argued that the drivers may be safer inside a car which had the more airbags or which had traction control or whatever. Many of these things add to the retail price of the car making it more expensive. As the manufacturers don't want to raise the retail price of their car compared to their competion they would have to absorb these costs thereby reducing their profit margins.
Any extras sold with a new car all include 22.5/25/30% VRT which makes them both more expensive than our European neighbours and alsoless attractive to the buyer.
This also applies to extras such as alloys, leather, etc. which is why for years (and still to an extent) many Irish cars are of a lower spec to our Euro counterparts. Take the new Golf as an example!
However, going back to the safety aspect, the more safety features you have, the more confident you become, thereby increasing the likleyhood of an incident.