How heavy is your car?

We often don’t think about it, the actual weight of our vehicle.   You will never carry it, so it is not like a skateboard, when you can say two pounds.   You will never really push and/or carry it like a bike, so you are never really trying to get it to weigh less, like you do with a bike.

Hopefully, you never have it run over your toe, so you know its not the 38 pound child plus the 2 pound scooter.

So what does your car weigh?  Would it surprise you to know, that one of the “lightest” cars around is the Smart Car with a weight of 1609 pounds?   You cannot lift it, you are not strong enough.

On the other end of the spectrum, a Hummer weighs 6614 pounds.   The most popular car, the Honda Accord weighs 3175 pounds.

Why am I talking about the weight of a vehicle?

As we discuss in our online driver safety course, physics are in play when you drive.

As Newton’s 2nd Law of Physics states, “The acceleration produced by a particular force acting on a body is directly proportional to the magnitude of the force and inversely proportional to the mass of the body.”  The key is the mass of the body and last I checked, there are not a lot of people who could exert Newton’s 3rd Law, as people do not even weigh what a smart car does.

The point is, when you are driving a car, you interacting with the forces of physics and your vehicle weighs, A LOT.   It is best to focus on the task at hand, drive and put the phone in the back seat.   Distracted Driving… is the equivalent of shooting a gun randomly into the air on New Years, you have no idea where the bullet will land.

Another sad but real story from the DOT below.   Drive safely.

Faces of Distracted Driving