What else should I consider, and what other important factors am I not thinking of if my end goal is finding cars that are really a cut above the rest in terms of safety?
Are you thinking about your own skill at driving? Maybe you are, and left it out because that isn’t the question you wanted to ask here, but it is something to think about. For all I know, you might have years of experience driving emergency vehicles with sirens through traffic at twice the speed limit without dying, but otherwise, some sort of advanced driver training might be something to look into.
Another thing to consider is what colour it should be. Anecdote: a friend of mine once went off a country road and violently bumped to a stop in a field. She was injured enough that she couldn’t get out of her car. Fortunately, another driver came along, saw, and stopped to help, but she realised that because her car was dark-coloured, if this had happened at night she would have been invisible. Her next car was bright yellow.
my end goal is finding cars that are really a cut above the rest in terms of safety
That’s not an end goal. That’s an instrumental goal toward actually being safe while moving about. Actually spending less time on the road, or improving your driving ability/habits, is very likely to have more safety impact than the difference between the top few contenders for your choice of vehicle.
Are you thinking about your own skill at driving? Maybe you are, and left it out because that isn’t the question you wanted to ask here, but it is something to think about. For all I know, you might have years of experience driving emergency vehicles with sirens through traffic at twice the speed limit without dying, but otherwise, some sort of advanced driver training might be something to look into.
Another thing to consider is what colour it should be. Anecdote: a friend of mine once went off a country road and violently bumped to a stop in a field. She was injured enough that she couldn’t get out of her car. Fortunately, another driver came along, saw, and stopped to help, but she realised that because her car was dark-coloured, if this had happened at night she would have been invisible. Her next car was bright yellow.
Good point! I think it’s simply a mistake to say
That’s not an end goal. That’s an instrumental goal toward actually being safe while moving about. Actually spending less time on the road, or improving your driving ability/habits, is very likely to have more safety impact than the difference between the top few contenders for your choice of vehicle.