Too many friends died in crashing sh*t £5-600 cars (Vauxhall Novas, old fiestas, Pugeot 205s).
You say that as if half your friends have died in cars - are you living in the most dangerous area in the world or something ?
It was yorkshire not Newcastle but point taken. My girlfriend and her brother died in a car crash just after she passed her test. In the same week 2 friends from school died in seperate incidents.
A couple of friends from uni have died in car crashes at the start when they were still in their school days cars. 1 on my course who Id been working alongside for 2 years.
My sister put her friend through the windscreen of her car when she rolled her cinquecento on the night she passed her test. She didnt die but she was pretty messed up for a long time. That was a new car and it ended up through a hedge on its roof after hitting a tree stump on the side of the road. An older car would have crumpled.
So yeah - all in all Ive not had good experiences. My girlfriend, 4 very close friends and several other mates from school and uni. Its one of the hazards of having quite a few friends and living in big open areas where you have to drive everywhere. The people who walked away were in either big old cars (like Volvos) and modern small cars (new fiestas, puntos, etc). Work out how many people on these forums have had a serious crash and youd be suprised.