I see. So, lets say that Malibu is going its safe speed and you are going your safe speed. Now redo the test.
What is the safe speed for the Bel-Air? 0? Reverse? Reverse at the same speed as the malibu?
What the safety ratings have done is to say we are going to test cars this year for 35MPH (Or whatever) frontal offset. We will rate cars based on that and consumers can buy cars after they read the ratings.
I agree. But, like it or not, cars are a huge net gain for society. So by being proactive on safety features and mitigating the risk we get from an inherently unsafe thing such as driving we can have our cake and eat it too.
I'm not sure I agree with you. I think a lot of the regulations came slow... a good example in my opinion is the creation of seat belts laws and the enforcement of them.
http://www.iihs.org/laws/SafetyBeltUse.aspx
Example: New Jersey passed the law in '85 and it took effect in '00.
Some states passed the law and it was needed immediately, but that was on new car purchases only. If the car didn't have safety belts when sold it is grandfathered in.