Post #3: How has the car revolutionized over time?

http://www.motorwayamerica.com/content/mercedes-benz-marks-50-years-crash-testing-first-car

-Mercedes-Benz was one of the first car companies to really look into safety as an important factor to driving.
-In the 1920s, they invented safety door locks on cars
-On September 10, 1959, they conducted one of the first head-on collision crash test that was really the beginning of crash testing.
-Without crash test research in the 1950s, many people would still be dying in accidents today.
-Around the late 1930s, Mercedes-Benz engineers were mainly inventing and putting patents on over 2,500 inventions
-The first Mercedes-Benz cars in crash tests were compelled into objects with hot water rockets.
-After many crash tests, the materials in cars became softer to further absorb the energy involved in crashes.
-The first crash test dummies were not very advanced and did not simulate a real person very well.  Some companies used inflatables and dolls to simulate people.

3 Questions: 
-Why did people take crash testing so seriously?
-How would cars be if safety wasn't in mind?
-What is being done to reduce accidents?