You can't fix stoopid.....

[Cracker]

That's it?

[OnBendedKnee]

That's it?

No, I've also got this for you:

[Cracker]

K.

They don't have Safeway or Vons or Albertsons out here, but I knew what you meant.

[OnBendedKnee]

^
And all due to you "apparently have a basic understanding of literary devices".

[Cracker]

You got all pissy. I wasn't correcting you, but your cop gene kicked in...

[OnBendedKnee]

I enjoy pointing out the moronic in you.
If that is what you define as "pissy", okay-dokie then.

[Cracker]

You didn't point out shit. Hyperbole was and is correct. Your shit wasn't funny. I guess I could fawn all over you, but it just wasn't that clever. Then you posted memes. What part was supposed to highlight my deficiency? Because I missed it.

You can drag these tards by the nose, but you have to work a little harder to dazzle Cracker.

[username]

..,,but you have to work a little harder to dazzle Cracker.

Which is my life's purpose. I feel so ...empty. *sniffles*

[Cracker]

I can do without the sarcasm, miss.

Complacency is a bitch. That's how people get really fat. And allow themselves to be really stupid.

Show me the clever shit. I can't wade through the rest to find it...

[Duchess]

I'm sorry for the kid that her own dumbass mother ran her over & killed her. I have no sympathy for the mother. It's her fault, not the car manufacturer. Jesus Christ.

[cladking]

I'm sorry for the kid that her own dumbass mother ran her over & killed her. I have no sympathy for the mother. It's her fault, not the car manufacturer. Jesus Christ.

I used to think this way too, but no longer. It's not that a precious young life has been snuffed out or exactly how much of the fault is her own (a lot) and how much is her mother's (probably significant). It's the fact that this problem could have been predicted on the drawing board. Indeed, there is a fair chance some engineer spotted the problem and even calculated the number of fatalities while the legal department calculated the cost to the company from the fatalities. Don't get me wrong; it's OK to calculate the cost of human lives for things like building a dam or releasing toxins into the enviroment. It might sound cold and heartless but everything has a cost and the objective is to do net good. But there's no reason cars should be built so they are hard to drive in reverse. There is no net good other than when their buddies in Congress mandate cameras so they can charge more for cars. A bunchof kids die and the CEO gets a big bonus. It's the circle of life once you jump the shark.

[cladking]

It's not the car's fault. It's the fact that parents should know where their kids are.

If I don't have a back up camera and my neighbor's kid decides to hide behind my car, whose fault is that? I would argue that the parents of the neighborhood kid should have known where their child was; not that me or my car were somehow negligent.

Kids need to learn to take care of themselves.

It's a wonder any of them survive their childhood but they almost all do.

They'd have a much better chance if drivers could see behind them when they back up.

[HairOfTheDog]

I understand your logic Clad, but disagree with you.

228 people die per year from accidents related to vehicles going in reverse, about half of them are children. Of course every life is precious and I'm not minimizing those lives, but that's not a large number considering the number of people and vehicles in the US. There are inherent risks in simply living and you can't regulate them all away.

-Avg of 75 people in the US a year die in lawn-mower accidents. -Avg of 85 people a year in the US die in bathtubs. In both cases, the majority of fatalities are children. -Avg 93,000 children a year are treated in emergency rooms after falling down stairs; 90% suffer head injuries (fatalities not tracked specifically).

If someone is not paying attention or doesn't know how to properly operate equipment around children, injuries and death can result from their irresponsibility. Unless you want a government regulator inside of every car and every house watching every move, the responsibility will remain a personal one. It doesn't make these deaths any less sad, but it's a fact of life.

From the OP article:

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a lobbying group that represents automakers, puts the total cost to the industry at about $2 billion a year. The organization endorsed the 2008 law after a series of compromises. But last December, eight days after Sydnee Neiman's death, its leader met with White House budget officials to propose a less expensive alternative: reserving cameras for vehicles with extra-large blind zones and outfitting the rest with curved, wide-angle exterior mirrors.

The alliance declined comment, but earlier this year the group's vice president, Gloria Bergquist, told The Associated Press that it urged the government to explore more options as a way to reduce the costs passed on to consumers.

The auto industry is having enough trouble keeping costs down and prices affordable so that they can move cars. It seems clear to me that they are not intentionally creating unsafe vehicles in order to push more governmentally mandated features.

[username]

I hear what you're saying Clad but I do think people want to abdicate personal responsibility and force the government to legislate safety to an almost ridiculous degree. There are far more deaths caused by drunk drivers. I'm sure we could figure out a way to install breathalyzers in every car that would shut off and require a new sample if someone tried to switch drivers after taking the test but is legislation/the government the answer?

Even a back up camera isn't foolproof. I use mine but just glance at it and then look over my shoulder. If some mini person walks behind my car after, the only thing that might save them is my back up warning sensor. We could mandate those too.

[Jimbone]

Wrong.

This isn't about corporate profit, or evil government officials.

All the technology in the world won't fix people in a hurry, people who are careless, or people who just can't be bothered.

This woman was all three of those things in one instant.

The operator of any vehicle is responsible for its safe operation. If they can't operate a vehicle safely, then they should select another or forgo the privilege.

She failed one of the basic responsibilities of being a safe driver. Period.

And now instead of taking personal responsibility for her actions, she is fighting a cause to soothe the unimaginable pain of having killed her own daughter.

It's tragic, but was preventable and didn't have to happen - and she didn't need backup alarms or cameras either. All she had to do was look at her daughter in the back seat and make sure she was buckled in.

But she didn't.

[cladking]

Wrong.

This isn't about corporate profit, or evil government officials.

All the technology in the world won't fix people in a hurry, people who are careless, or people who just can't be bothered.

This woman was all three of those things in one instant.

The operator of any vehicle is responsible for its safe operation. If they can't operate a vehicle safely, then they should select another or forgo the privilege.

She failed one of the basic responsibilities of being a safe driver. Period.

And now instead of taking personal responsibility for her actions, she is fighting a cause to soothe the unimaginable pain of having killed her own daughter.

It's tragic, but was preventable and didn't have to happen - and she didn't need backup alarms or cameras either. All she had to do was look at her daughter in the back seat and make sure she was buckled in.

But she didn't.

Accidents do happen.

Most people get a warning they are doing something wrong before a tragedy occurs but ignore it. Nothing can absolve her of her responsibility in the accident and nothing will ease her pain much now.

But it galls me to no end that manufacturers pander to the least common denominator and that people don't complain. There used to be a little device on the car right in front of the front windows called a vent window. These operated by moving a small panel of glass to the side. They made a car comfortable in all kinds of weather and allowed smokers to vent their smoke and ash right out the window making the enviroment healthy for all riders. But these things were interfering with their ability to sell airconditioners for which they made obscene profits so they just yanked them out. A few resisted buying air and just cracked their windows the best they could so they made the windows so rain comes straight into the car if they're open; voila, everyone has air conditioners.

Everything they do is about silly gadgets and making the car more expensive and less susceptible to operator control. They're more expensive to maintain. They made the brakes such that you can't feel the pavement so you have to have anti-lock brakes. How many people died because they didn't know that modern brakes don't work? The engineers had to know that the brakes and steering were removing the control of the driver yet they did it anyway just as the auto industyr, tire industry, and gas companies conspired after the war to shut down mass tranportation all over the country. Yet this has never even been investigated by our complicit government while the conspirators are all approaching advanced age or are already safe in the grave.

Yes, it was all her fault but but how many laws were broken in order to cause this "accident" to happen? Everything now is about funneling all the wealth to the few and most of those few care little about who might die or how many might die so they can get ever more. They certainly don't care about some little girl when they get their ill gotten gains.

[sally]

It's like putting "caution hot" on a cup of coffee

Did you ever get a cup of coffee from McDonalds? They bring that shit to a rolling boil before they give it to you, it's ridiculous. It should be "caution, wait 20 mins. before taking a sip and DO NOT put the cup between your legs because our coffee is so stupid hot it will scorch the skin off your dick".

[cladking]

Exactly. Everyone in the country serves coffee at 180 degrees and McDounalls serves it at about 215.

It's obvious that there will be consequences for some things. This doesn't mean it's OK to scald yourself with their coffee or it's not your own fault if you do but such accidents are known in advance and steps should be taken to minimize the problem in advance. When they started making cars that you can't see behind you they should have told people this and to avoid backing over their children, unconscious adults, and pets the best they could. They should have equipped the first cars without vent windows with a warning sign that they would need air conditioning right where the vent window should have been.

Consumers need to start exercising better judgement and punishing the companies ruining products and adding poisons or water to food but I don't see this happening soon.

[OnBendedKnee]

The woman who won a judgement against McDonalds for spilling hot coffee in her lap was paid in 90 seconds of McDonalds' profits.

[username]

Exactly. Everyone in the country serves coffee at 180 degrees and McDounalls serves it at about 215.

It's obvious that there will be consequences for some things. This doesn't mean it's OK to scald yourself with their coffee or it's not your own fault if you do but such accidents are known in advance and steps should be taken to minimize the problem in advance. When they started making cars that you can't see behind you they should have told people this and to avoid backing over their children, unconscious adults, and pets the best they could. They should have equipped the first cars without vent windows with a warning sign that they would need air conditioning right where the vent window should have been.

Consumers need to start exercising better judgement and punishing the companies ruining products and adding poisons or water to food but I don't see this happening soon.

Cars have always had blind spots. What about knives. Caution, sharp? Ridiculousness.