Thinking saves lives
03/29/2022
It's always amazing what you discover when browsing through old magazines. The real gems are usually found away from the big driving reports. This is also the case in issue 14/1956 of Auto, Motor und Sport, which shows this picture of a Peugeot 203 stabbed to death on page 7. Why would you print something like this on the first pages of a car magazine? The explanation and the great astonishment follow when reading the five lines above: all four occupants of the Peugeot were completely unharmed. They owe the survival of their health solely to the driver's presence of mind: when he stepped into the void while braking, he simply shouted "Head down! Fortunately, the passengers were just as quick to react as the driver.
In the age of smartphone-gazing and infotainment-distracted motorists, the outcome would probably not have been much different, perhaps even worse. After all, the emergency brake assistant would most likely not have detected an obstacle on the road in front of the car and therefore would not have automatically initiated emergency braking - which would have been difficult anyway if the brakes had failed. So even today, it certainly doesn't hurt to drive attentively and with foresight despite all the driving aids.
