Car Crashes Spike When Home Team Loses: Study

Car Crashes Spike When Home Team Loses: Study
The Nine Safest Vehicles on the Road: IIHS
VW Golf GTD Wagon Headed for Geneva Debut
Kia Soul Off-Road Concept with e-AWD Teased
Sampling Aston Martin’s Product Range
Lamborghini Aventador SV Revealed in Spy Photos

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How mad do you get after your favorite NFL team loses? It seems most get upset enough to affect their driving.

According to a study done by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), the rate of insurance claims directly around an NFL stadium is higher on days when the home team loses or ties than when it wins.

The study looked at collisions in ZIP codes that directly surround 31 different NFL stadiums, though it only takes into account vehicles that are garaged within that ZIP code, which means that drivers who came into that ZIP code for the game are not included.

On days when the home team played and won, the collision rate was 3.2 percent higher than days without a football game because of the higher rate of traffic. On days when the home team lost or tied, the rate of collisions was 9.4 percent higher.

"The game day effect was much more pronounced at some stadiums than at others," says HLDI Vice President Matt Moore. "This may point to differences in policing and traffic management strategies, which could present opportunities for improvement."

The Nine Safest Vehicles on the Road: IIHS

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Zero drivers died in a Honda Odyssey between 2009 and 2012. Surprised? Well there are nine other cars that also have no registered driver deaths in the same time period.

This info comes from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), which has released a list of vehicular driver deaths ranked by make and model. In total, there are nine different vehicles that have driver death rates of zero. The study does not include passenger deaths.

In no particular order, these nine vehicles are: Honda Odyssey, Audi A4 AWD, Kia Sorento two-wheel drive, Lexus RX 350 AWD, Mercedes GL-Class AWD, Subaru Legacy, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Toyota Sequoia AWD and the Volvo XC90 AWD.

The numbers mostly reflect vehicles from the 2011 model year but some vehicles that were't substantially redesigned before 2011 date back to 2008. Eight years ago, when the IIHS released its last study on driver deaths by make and model, there were no cars with driver death rates of zero.

This improvement can be chalked up to, in part, new electronic stability control systems in SUVs, as these large vehicles had some of the highest death rates just a decade ago due to their propensity to roll over. Today, SUVs are among the safest vehicles on the road due to their large size, heavy weight and advanced safety systems.

VW Golf GTD Wagon Headed for Geneva Debut

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Volkswagen has chosen the 2015 Geneva Motor Show to reveal some forbidden fruit.

The Golf GTD Variant as it is called is a performance version of the Golf wagon, or SportWagen as it's known in North America. Power comes from a 2.0-liter turbodiesel that makes 181 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque that will get the GTD wagon up to 62 mph in 7.9 seconds. VW says the GTD will return up to 53 mpg, though that is on the European test cycle.

To differentiate its look, the GTD wagon gets special bumpers, a honeycomb grille, smoked rear taillights and flared sills. To make sure that it's more fun, VW has fit the car with sport suspension that lowers ride height by 15 mm along with progressive steering that allows sharper performance during high-speed driving.

Of course, the GTD will be a Europe-only model, so all we can do is look. For live photos of the new VW performance wagon, come back to AutoGuide for live coverage from the show.

Discuss this story at our VW Forum

Kia Soul Off-Road Concept with e-AWD Teased

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Kia is teasing a new concept coming to the Chicago Auto Show this year.

The brand says it will be an all-wheel drive electric vehicle built for life off road. Kia says the car is built for urban dwellers looking for adventure in the wilderness.

Kia didn't say which vehicle the concept would be based on, but it's clear from the teaser photo that it is the Soul. An all-electric Soul already exists that carries a range of 93 miles on a single charge and makes 109 hp and 210 lb-ft of torque.

SEE ALSO: Kia Soul EV Details

Watch for live coverage from the Chicago Auto Show to see what Kia has in store.

Discuss this story at our Kia Soul Forum

Sampling Aston Martin’s Product Range

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Aston Martins are special automobiles; their rarity is on par with products manufactured by companies like Rolls-Royce, Maserati and even Lamborghini.

Understandably it's an extraordinary treat to get time in just one of this British brand's cars, but it's something else entirely when you have an opportunity to sample the breadth of their lineup.

And yet that's exactly what happened. Earlier this week the company hosted a drive event in Southern California. Select members of the press were offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sample nearly everything in the Aston Martin showroom. A broad array of models were on hand and in fact I've never seen so many of these cars in a single place at one time.

AutoGuide.com was given a chance to thoroughly sample these rarified automobiles on the twisting asphalt of California's legendary Mulholland Drive, a route that snakes its way through the rugged canyons and sun-drenched hillsides of the Santa Monica mountains.

Over the course of a day we sampled four different machines, each of which plays a unique role in the company's lineup. There was the V8 Vantage GT with its unexpectedly crisp manual transmission, the head-turning Rapide S sedan was well represented, Aston Martin's ultimate grand toured, the Vanquish was available for testing and I also evaluated the V12 Vantage S, a car that shocked me in many ways. We'll have full reviews of each model in the coming weeks but until these stories go live here's a brief overview of each car just to whet your appetite.

Lamborghini Aventador SV Revealed in Spy Photos

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Lamborghini is preparing to launch an even more powerful version of its Aventador model and we have the very first photos of the new supercar.

Spotted during filming in southern Europe there's no denying that this is the SuperVeloce model out getting some photos snapped before the big reveal at the Geneva Motor Show in just a few weeks time.

Making the SuperVeloce so super will be a bump in horsepower likely pushing the 700-hp V12 engine closer to 750-hp. Also expect a significant reduction in weight by as much as 200 lbs.

Notable highlights include the massive rear spoiler and the four exhaust pipes that replace the single unit on the standard Aventador.