<VV> Re: Seats (now safety) (now humor)

[RoboMan91324@aol.com]

Right on, Rodney,

Hydraulic brakes ........ we don't need no stinkin' hydraulic brakes.  
Mechanical brakes from the good old days will stop the car eventually and were a lot 
cheaper.  Rear view mirrors .... and side view mirrors especially??  Who 
needs to see behind us?  That's the past.  The guy behind me can see me and just 
watch out when I change lanes.  Gee, I hope he has those namby pamby hydraulic 
brakes.  Plate glass for the windshield keeps the wind out of your face just 
as the safety glass does and is a lot cheaper.  If we all just drive 
defensively, our respective faces won't get mangled even though we don't have seat 
belts.  With defensive driving, there won't be any accidents and with the 
mechanical brakes, you can't decelerate fast enough for anyone to do a face plant on 
the windshield from the inside.  Don't get me started on those sissy air filled 
tires.  Solid rubber tires were good enough for my Grandpa and they are good 
enough for me.  When the tread wore out, you could just break out the wood 
burning iron and make new ones.  Ah, the aroma.  On second thought, who needs 
tread at all when you can just drive defensively?  Taking into consideration the 
value of the dollar today vs. the 60s (or whenever) modern cars don't really 
cost more than pretty much any time in the past.  However, you are correct that 
cars would cost a lot less without the safety equipment.  We just need to 
decide to stop having accidents.  We could save on insurance too because it 
wouldn't be as necessary.  Of course, the insurance companies would all go out of 
business especially if people decide to stop stealing cars, getting sick, having 
earthquakes and all those bad things.  The body shops would have to make a 
living doing custom paint jobs and restoring classic Vairs, etc.

Hydraulic brakes, shocks, safety glass, air filled tires, etc. at one time 
were all considered to be frivolous options by some but are now accepted.  
Imagine a car salesman mentioning air filled tires or hydraulic brakes as a selling 
feature today.  Seat belts and airbags are now non-controversial standards 
and ABS and other devices soon will be.  I don't like that some of these things 
had to be mandated by the government (many weren't) but I firmly believe that 
most, if not all, would have become standards with or without government 
intervention.  Even with costs factored in, the benefits of most of the safety 
devices now in use are so evident that a car manufacturer who didn't include them 
on its vehicles would not be in business for long.

Kidding aside, I agree that things would be a lot better if people learned to 
drive better and exercised some common sense.  However, too many don't and I 
also believe that even good drivers can get into unexpected situations that 
can get out of control.  I for one, am happy for all those namby pamby devices 
on my cars.  

Doc
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a message dated 8/29/2004 10:56:01 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
virtualvairs-request@corvair.org writes:


> Message: 8
> Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 12:03:56 -0500
> From: Rodney Sampson <rsampson@swbell.net>
> To: virtualvairs@corvair.org
> Subject: <VV> Re: Seats (now safety)
> 
> All:
>    Just my 2 cents worth, if we eliminate the mamby pamby safety equipment 
> from the vehicles,.
>    2 things would happen:
> 
>    1) People might just LEARN how to drive defensively....
> 
>    and
> 
>    2)   The price of cars would drop.....

> 
> 
> Rodney Sampson 65 Corsa,