Re: safety

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@domain.elided>]

>I have encountered another snag in my quest to purchase an Alfa
>Spider. My significant other is concerned about the safety of such a
>car. Any words of wisdom?

Without wanting to burden the alfa-digest excessively with my usual rant 
on safety ... Many people equate "Safety" to mean that they can 
mindlessly sit in a tank and survive a locomotive slamming into them. I 
think that's a rather dumb way to consider safety. ;)

An Alfa Romeo Spider is a good handling, nimble sports car. It isn't 
going to provide the kind of tank-like womb that you can hit without 
consequences the way most people think of Volvos or Mercedes-Benz cars, 
but it's a perfectly safe automobile and meets the standards through the 
years for crash safety, etc. It is an open car so without the addition of 
a roll cage you don't have the benefit of a roof structure to protect you 
in the event of a catastrophic roll over.

Godfrey

------------------------------