<VV> Idiots? Of course....

[James P. Rice]

Idiot proofing cars is a bad idea?  Have you been driving recently?

The group on VV are generally car savvy people.  But the vast majority of
folks on the road are idiots - and I think I'm being kind here - when it
comes to operating the sometimes lethal transportation devices we all drive.
They know about as much about safe operation of their cars as they do about
their microwaves.  How many people even look at their tires when they walk
up to their cars in a parking lot to see if the side bulges are all the
same?  Check tire pressures?  What is that!  Remember the tire PSI devices
are there because idiots in Ford Explorers failed to consider tire pressures
on a regular basis.

Since the Toyota thing hit, how many people have you had ask you something
like "How do you put a car into neutral on the road."  Or what happens if
you do?  These are the folks who only go thru neutral on their way to
something else.  Or what happens if you shut the engine off at speed?

Go back to the Corvair cases.  Several of the now long time dead knew their
was something wrong with their car - which we know was tire pressure - but
continued to drive them without asking for help.  Idiots.  Of course, we
never do that, now do we.

Idiot proofing cars by manufacturers is nothing more than a CYA effort.  Our
legal system does not allow judges and/or juries to declare the plaintiff
"an idiot, case dismissed."  Then you have congress: we are from the
government, and we are here to help you..."

Speaking of the Toyota thing, in the cover of all that media coverage,
several car companies announced recalls similar to Toyota's grief, but they
went unnoticed.  There was a recent column in one of in car mags about this
little slight of hand by several manufacturers.

Historically Yours,
			James Rice

PS:  If you get your dictionary out, you will find that the primary
definition of imbecile, idiot and moron are all age specific classifications
dealing with what a specific age child should be able to do.  Thus you
(probably?) cannot be a idiot, moron and imbecile at the same time.