Five-Star Safety Rating

With the sun setting on the era of gigantic, gas-guzzling SUVs, those ultra-compact European SmartCars are rapidly gaining in popularity.  Whenever I see one out on the road, however, I cringe at the thought of Semi-truck vs. SmartCar post-collision carnage.  As environmentally friendly as these vehicles are claimed to be, I have trouble picturing them as safe.

Until last night at least.  We received a patch for an MVC, and readied the trauma room in anticipation of another badly injured patient.  EMS wheeled in a young female, the driver of a SmartCar that had been T-boned and rolled three times before coming to a stop.  Anticipating horrific injuries, I was pleasantly surprised to see that she ended up without a scratch.

Apparently those little cars are really nothing more than glorified roll cages, but what they lack in their carbon footprint I guess they make up for in toughness.