Uh oh.. I feel another major rant coming on. Same old stupid dumb assed arguments. All this stuff has been hashed out just about every single decade as car and engine capabilities increase. And what's surprising is many posting here are older than me!
If you think far more people are killing themselves in todays cars because they're faster than ever?.. you're being completely naive and ignorant of how many people actually died in "fast cars" of the 50's, 60,s and 70's. Christ.. they didn't even have or mandate seatbelt usage that far back! People were getting brain damaged from steel dashboards and guillotined by their damned glovebox doors! Not to mention that the old solid steel bodies and full frame cars were built like tanks and many weren't even totaled out after the occupants brains were tossed about like scrambled eggs during those old yesteryear crashes. Total opposite with today's tech and crumple zone designs. Of course side airbags and door curtains still won't save you from that sudden stop against a tree or telephone pole but that's not the average crash either.
So, it's totally proportional and we need to also take into account the media coverage's microscope type focus on such events in today's world. You see it FAARRRR more because they show it more(ever learn anything about webpage traffic/hitcounts and the way most websites make their money?), whereas yester-years major TV and national newspaper coverage generally didn't tell you anything about lil' Johnny jr. and his 3 highschool buddies dying in their old beater Buick Skylark with shitty half bald bias ply tires and half used up partially inoperable brakes while having a few beers out on some backroad USA.
I've been in and around(street racing) fast cars(some VERY fast twin turbo's) and hardcore gearheads all my life. Aside from some over-priveledged rich daddy's boys(or dope swingers on their self-indulged fast tracks to success) who get handed the keys before they can even drift a car around dirt roads.. I'm FAAARRRR more afraid of the average unskilled driver doing half those speeds who can't(usually because they're tailgating) or don't care to look beyond the pavement or car/truck/suv directly in front of them. Because all the more serious guys and gal's driving far more potent machinery than the person in the next lane I've ever been around don't camp out on their damned cell phones while we're doing a 60-130mph pulls on the freeway. Yeah, speed kills and accidents will always be part of life, but for gods sake.. LOOK AROUND YOU.. to help gain some perspective. Do you see more hotrod/supercar crashes or regular vehicles? If you took a world-poll you'd see far more of it has to do with unskilled, intoxicated, and ignorant inattentive driving than the relationship with power under the hood. Most people that have these types of cars have some level of respect for their increased capabilities and consider them a hard earned treasure.. compared to the wives and daughters and inept dodo's who simply put gas in and go speeding down the roadways in their average POS's hurrying to work, the grocery store, yoga class or local bar. And many are doing it in heavier trucks and SUV's that are now more powerful than ever before. People think that just because the engine is loping along at 1,800rpm @ 65mph.. they're out of danger compared to some hotrodded eurocar speeding around the roadways. At least that eurocar idiot likely has two hands on the wheel while working his way through traffic and has some concept of the physics involved if something goes wrong compared to some people/MANY who apparently think that having at least 1 finger on the wheel is more than sufficient because today's cars practically drive themselves.
So, after all that ranting I'll end with this. BLAME THE GOVERNMENT! Because after all is said and done, it's the lack of physical training to actually learn how to handle a car in a reactive, stressful(rush hour), or high paced environment that is killing far more people in run of the mill plain-jane cars, trucks and suv's than factory hotrods and hypercars ever will. So long as the person can obey basic laws and parallel park?.. they are freely handed a drivers license to ignorantly and naively hurtle their 1.5-3 ton vehicles past blind corners/driveways, over/down hills, and along the roadways at night while in less than ideal weather conditions. But.. I guess they figure it's our inherent right as Americans and everyone has to be responsible for their own actions. And the ones who get it wrong or drive negligently will have to let the legal system and insurance companies sort it out from there. IMHO, it's the untrained driver full of complacency and ignorance that I worry about 100 times more than some idiot who thinks he has a super-license off a video game. BUT, on the other hand.. that idiot sometimes takes out a whole family when he runs into something at well over 100mph compared to the average fender bender who walks away. Either way.. it's a numbers game and the average cars with average drivers will always easily take the crown for lives lost.
Sorry for that long winded rant.. but it irks me in a really bad way when the cars themselves get blamed moreso than the unskilled ignorance of the people controlling them. I see and drive next to all these idiots every day of my life and the beat goes on. Only now the government is continually working to outsmart them with radar/camera proximity warnings, electronic stability control and anti-lock brakes. Nothing but more bandaids being applied to the festering sore of ignorance and complacency known as human nature.