Villa Ford Builds A Chase Vehicle For The Raptor
In an effort to promote the Ford Raptor vehicle and its accomplishments at the Baja 1000, Villa Ford has dressed up a Ford Transit with a full vehicle wrap to match the theme on the Raptor race truck. The vehicle has also been modified with a roof rack, off-road lights, new wheels and tires. We love what they have going on in their heads, but we wonder how much terrain a Transit will be able to overcome in Baja. If you find yourself in the Orange, California area, head on over to Villa Ford and take a look. For more information, visit: Villa Ford, www.villa-ford.com.
Funco Motorsports takes a Monster 4 Podium weekend
Chad George raced in true form claiming three victories and one third place podium finish at the Lucas Speedworld Off-Road Park in Surprise, Arizona for Round 3 and 4 of the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series (LOORRS). Chad took his Funco/Kawasaki Teryx to the 1-mile long track on Saturday in a UTV endurance race for survival. The intense competition has teams squeezing power from every port, but many rivals succumbed to mechanical failures, and Chad was able to secure the final podium spot. The victory marked Chad's first UTV Modified win of 2010 after last year's championship season. For more information, visit: Funco Motorsports, www.FUNCOutv.com.
Socioeconomic Status Linked To Vehicle Safety
Improvements in motor vehicle safety have been recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as ranking among the 20th century's top public health achievements. However, a recent study led by researchers in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics (PMB) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) seems to show that the improvements aren't benefiting all segments of the population equally. The study appears in the April issue of Traffic Injury Prevention.
"Vehicle safety advances have saved hundreds of thousands of lives in recent decades," said Deborah Girasek, PhD, MPH, Director, Social & Behavioural Sciences in the PMB. "What we found was that people in lower socioeconomic groups don't enjoy the same access to these improvements as their wealthy counterparts, most likely because of how our society introduces protective technology into the vehicle market." Typically safety advances are first offered on luxury vehicles at the discretion of automobile manufacturers. People who buy used vehicles do not benefit from such advances until the safer models "trickle down" to the used car market.
The study found that as median household incomes increased, so did the proportion of vehicles that came equipped with side airbags and electronic stability control as standard equipment. "The results may not be surprising," said Girasek, "but we believe this is the first time that this traffic safety advantage has been documented. It seems unlikely that we would accept levels of crash protection that were tied to product price in other modes of transportation. Suppose, for example, that in addition to free drinks and wider seats, first class airline tickets came with better odds of surviving a plane crash?"
For more information about USU and its programs, visit www.usuhs.mil