Advocacy & Safety - Bull bars on 4wd (SUV's)

This is my first post here, so it may have been covered before.

In Australia most of the 4wd (SUV's) are sold with Bull bars, these are roll cage of steel attached the front of the car in case you hit a Bull, Cow, Kangaroo etc. They are designed to make the animal roll under the car so is doesn't come up through the windscreen. I'm not sure what their called in the US or if they even exist.

My point is why would someone need a Bull bar in the city when the only thing they could possible hit is a pedestrian or cyclist. I hate these things, and I despise any "city" person who has one on their car. There have been a few news stories recently about making these things out of special plastics instead of steel/aluminium. The reason for the change are 1) Protect pedestrians & cyclists 2) To enable the car to "crumble" in an accident as they were designed to do.

Some people even attach fishing real holders to the Bull bar (which is another huge piece of steel) to the passenger side of the Bull bar, the same corner of the car that cyclists would get hit by.

Do you feel the same about this as me, what is their purpose?

CHEERS. (end of rant)

The European Union has reasched an agreement on Bull Bars. I think you cant sell new vehicles with them, but old ones dont have to be removed. Its not legislation because the car companies dont want to be legislated against.
In my books any driver with bull bars loses the benefit of doubt, and I would always press for a prosecution if they hit me or endangered , no matter how accidental. Maybe if their insurance liability increased, insurance companies would press for their removal. This seems to a more effective strategy than arguing on the basis of non drivers lives.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1676000/1676832.stm

It's the usual crap that drivers to on with about wanting to drive a tank to get the mail. There is no need for them at all (in fact, I don't think there's any need outside the city either if people just watch where they're going - what a novel idea that is!). Unfortunately, the semi-evolved motoring primate is only concerned with having the biggest weapon on the road.

They do have such items on some of the SUVs in the United States. It is usually some macho jerk that thinks he/she (hmm a macho woman now that's interesting) has to keep the large animals, rocks and brush from damaging the front of their monster vehicles.

Actually around my large midwestern city you don't that many, probably because they are an expensive option and people don't bother. If you do see them it is a young guy with the gold badges, chrome wheels, jacked up a mile high and talking on the cell phone. Not a pretty site. For the same money they could have a Beemer or Merc and cruise in style and have money left over for a decent titanium bike.

I can't wait until petro goes up the Euro levels in the U.S. and then to listen to the SUV owners whine about it while I cruise by on my bike or economical car (which I need - it is cold and miserable here about 6 months a year). It will happen sooner or later.

In the U.S., SUVs are so tall and high-bumpered that even CARS go under them, so these bars are superfluous.

What the U.S. needs now is the application of automobile safety (including cornering and rollover stability), emissions, and fuel economy standards to all passenger-type SUVs, 99.9 percent of which are used as cars, anyway. On an Arizona highway, the San Diego Padres just lost a player who rolled a GMC SUV while driving drunk and unbelted. (Or should I say, "belted" in the wrong way?) Fortunately, he didn't roll the thing onto a pedestrian or bicyclist in the process.

Originally posted by Dutchy
My point is why would someone need a Bull bar in the city when the only thing they could possible hit is a pedestrian or cyclist.
Cheers! ;)

I know what you mean. What I see in my area are those bars across the lights to protect them offroad, or perhaps from animals, as you mentioned. My question is, what are they for when all you do is city driving? Nuts.

The question that really crosses my mind is, how many "SUV's" can actually handle the offroad conditions they are supposedly designed for? I picture a Cadillac SUV with a video playing for the kids, climbing the rough side of a mountain.

Nuts.

Bull bars are simply dangerous. I've never yet seen a bull or a kangaroo on the streets of Edinburgh, but plenty of 4X4 with bull bars.

They are used to protect!! the car from parking nudges.

The idiots who use them maybe don't realise that they remove the energy from a crash which would normally be absorbed by the crash deformable parts of the vehicle, and transmit it directly to the chassis rails, thus causing even more damage.

I think you can now get plastic ones which look the part, but dont decapitate pedestrians.

Originally posted by chewa
I think you can now get plastic ones which look the part,

Is this bull-bars or brains? Evidently these bull-bar driving tossers can't tell the difference in the latter.

Not many tumble weeds, kangaroos, or bulls around here in L.A.

Just a lot of parking lots with SUV's in full kit.

I don't see too many bull bars around these parts. The Minnesota version is a six-foot (eight-foot if you want to go deluxe) snowplow on the front of your truck. Of course, these tend to be rather practical during our typical winters, and no one thinks they're cool, so it's really not the same thing.

Don't look for any anti-pollution, anti-car, pro-bike sort of movements coming out that billiant guy you have in the White House!! George Bush!!!

Originally posted by Spire
Don't look for any anti-pollution, anti-car, pro-bike sort of movements coming out that billiant guy you have in the White House!! George Bush!!!

We need to have a fellow Texan, Lance, to work on him!

Interesting.. especially the answer about how a bull bar will ruin the chassis in case of an accident.
In Oz every truck has them and many cars as well, but most people refrain from driving at night (except truckers) for fear of a collision with a kangaroo. Kangaroos are large and can suddenly appear on the road where they 'freeze'.
People thought I was nuts as I developed a habit of cycling after dark.. when I met some fellow countrywomen in Northern Australia it turned out that I was famous "you are that crazy woman who cycles at night, aren't you?".. :confused:
Cycling at night was safer as there was hardly any traffic, road trains/truck drivers could see me from afar and the critters could easily be avoided.. not that I saw that many of them.
And, radio reception was a lot better as well as the so-called shortwave radio was completely dead in day time. In the end I hitch-hiked lots..

Ivana

Originally posted by fietser_ivana
In Oz every truck has them and many cars as well, but most people refrain from driving at night (except truckers) for fear of a collision with a kangaroo.

And there is no need for then whatsoever. For one thing, 90% of Australians live in urban areas (fact). I don't see too many kangaroos flying around the Gold Coast. I do see quite a few in the hinterland and as yet I've managed to avoid hitting any. Here is a novel concept that quite a few Australian drivers could learn. It's called: watching where you are going.

This bull-bar craze comes about because many people simply have too much testosterone in their system and want to drive a tank to get their mail.


And here's another interesting point: I have cycled in the bush quite a bit. I grew up there in fact. There aren't as many bull-bars around relative to the number of cars there as there are in the urban areas. Why do you suppose that is?

:confused:

The story I heard about roo bars is that road trains were hitting a lot of roos, but they were being injured rather than killed. In order to make a humane road kill, the truckers fitted steel bars.

Is there any truth in this, ie that they were designed for increased lethality , or is this another Crocadile Dundee yarn ?

Originally posted by MichaelW
The story I heard about roo bars is that road trains were hitting a lot of roos, but they were being injured rather than killed. In order to make a humane road kill, the truckers fitted steel bars.

I can't imagine anything the size of a roadtrain travelling at more than about 20km/h managing to "just injure" anything.

The story I heard about roo bars is that road trains were hitting a lot of roos, but they were being injured rather than killed. In order to make a humane road kill, the truckers fitted steel bars.

Is there any truth in this, ie that they were designed for increased lethality , or is this another Crocadile Dundee yarn ?



It's definitely a yarn! The only thing "truckies" care about is getting to their destination on time.
The Bull bar makes a barrier to stop the Roo from entering the radiator of the truck.
When ever I drive across the country there are always dead animals along the side of the road.
Kangaroos, Cows, Sheep etc. are often seen on the side of the "outback roads". If I was a truckie I
would have a Bull bar myself, that's what they were designed to do. They weren't designed for city vehicles.

On a bus trip from Geraldton down to Perth, the bus hit a Kangaroo at night time. All the bus driver said
was "here we go" and BANG the roo went straight under the bus, we could here the Roo colliding underneath the bus.
The driver never took his foot of the gas, he kept driving, and no one on the bus said anything either. It happens often.
Thankfully the bus had a Roo bar, and it did it's job. We could have all been in a very bad way had the bus not had a Roo bar.

Roo bars/Bull bars have their place, but that place is no where near cyclists and pedestrians.

CHEERS.

Originally posted by Dutchy



It's definitely a yarn! The only thing "truckies" care about is getting to their destination on time.
The Bull bar makes a barrier to stop the Roo from entering the radiator of the truck.
Roo bars/Bull bars have their place, but that place is no where near cyclists and pedestrians.

CHEERS.

Exactly,a roo bar is definitely not for the kangaroo but to prevent damage to the truck or car.
Even a roo bar won't prevet damage to a passenger vehicle, so that's why Ozzies were so scared of travelling at night.. i loved cycling at night.
All road trains had them... I've got a ride once from Darwin towards Cairns (we first had to dip our toes in West Australia to pick up cargo: loads of water melons!). This was 3 days of more or less non-stop riding..
I'll never forget the sign at the bull/roo bar he used..: "keep on *******, fitt a Ross bull bar." .
Nope, they don't care.. btw I did get the impresson that, since I was even famous among 'regular' travellers, all truckers knew I was on the road as well... they all use citizen band.. (this happened in 1997)

BTW, my standing hitch-hiking record with a bicycle (or without) is another 3 days of non-stop riding in a truck: 3483 km between Edmonton and Toronto in 2000.

Ivana, holder of the WR for hitch-hiking with a bicycle?

Originally posted by Dutchy



It's definitely a yarn! The only thing "truckies" care about is getting to their destination on time.
The Bull bar makes a barrier to stop the Roo from entering the radiator of the truck.
Roo bars/Bull bars have their place, but that place is no where near cyclists and pedestrians.

CHEERS.

Exactly,a roo bar is definitely not for the kangaroo but to prevent damage to the truck or car.
Even a roo bar won't prevet damage to a passenger vehicle, so that's why Ozzies were so scared of travelling at night.. i loved cycling at night.
All road trains had them... I've got a ride once from Darwin towards Cairns (we first had to dip our toes in West Australia to pick up cargo: loads of water melons!). This was 3 days of more or less non-stop riding..
I'll never forget the sign at the bull/roo bar he used..: "keep on *******, fitt a Ross bull bar." .
Nope, they don't care.. btw I did get the impresson that, since I was even famous among 'regular' travellers, all truckers knew I was on the road as well... they all use citizen band.. (this happened in 1997)

BTW, my standing hitch-hiking record with a bicycle (or without) is another 3 days of non-stop riding in a truck: 3483 km between Edmonton and Toronto in 2000.

Ivana, holder of the WR for hitch-hiking with a bicycle?