





I've been in two _major_ auto accidents, both were multiple car.  The worst
was a head-on three car collision (T intersection and one person ran a stop
sign).  In both cases I was stopped and had no place to go (and I saw it
coming both times). 


If you _really_ want to add safety to _any_ car, simply add a cage to the
car.  They are available and cheap (about $500 in the USA).  Add to that
four or five or six point belts and you will walk away from collisions that
were otherwise not survivable.  but instead of people spending a little
extra money, we get legislation that says the gov't must mandate a minimal
level of protection for everyone. 

One other significant factor in improving one's own safety is to get some
training.  This will improve your safety more than any other single
investment will.  Drive/ride defensively (and that does not mean you have
to be a doddering old stick in the mud).  People here tend to enthuse about
autos more than the average (probably in the top 15th percentile in driving
ability), but still we sometimes overlook the obvious.  I've been to two
driving schools, and three riding schools for my motorcycle.  A very
worthwhile investment (and besides, it was a lot of fun too ;-). 

Safety is what you make of it, just because a carmaker doesn't provide you
with an adequate level of protection doesn't mean you have to leave it go at
that. 

