Welcome to old age, here’s your Buick LaCrosse

Why do so many elderly people drive Crown Victorias or huge Buicks?

Chris19746, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation: Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 34, City : Madisonville, State : KY, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 9031

Replies:

My grandpa does the same thing! I don’t know about other people but for him it was the last company car he had and it reminds him of his friend who had passed away back about that time. Another thought is this: Crown Vics and Buicks are rather large vehicles. They might remind them of the vehicles back in the ’50s that were very large vehicles.

Vanessa28659, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation: Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 19, City : Fargo, State : ND, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class

Old people only appear to drive large cars. There are several phenomena at work: First, old people drive very slowly and, as hypothesized by Einstein and proved by Doppler in his seminal work Aunt Tillie’s Studebaker and the Reverse Doppler Effect, slow-moving objects appear longer than fast-moving objects. For example, orbiting Space Shuttle astronauts reported difficulty distinguishing between the Great Wall of China and John Glenn’s wife driving her Honda Civic. In addition, old people shrink, making the car look larger.

B. Hale, 43, male, Hartford, Conn.

From the Dare To Ask column:

Buick brand buyers? Average age is 63. Researchers at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida wanted to see if big cars really were big with the elderly. Their study concluded that seniors do prefer cars with a longer wheelbase – the distance from front to back axle. Veteran auto writer Brock Yates, who scribed for Car and Driver magazine for more than four decades, has no doubt why. “It plays back into youthful memories. Plus they feel safer with that giant bulk of steel around them. . . . And old people don’t have to bend down to get in.”

Join the dialogue on this post and see what others are saying here. Login to DareToAks or signup here.

——————————————————————————————————-

* Accompanying blog images are for generic, illustrative purposes only, and may be stock or submitted photos. Models depicted are not connected to subject matter.