Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site lzwi.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!lzwi!nrh From: nrh@lzwi.UUCP (N.R.HASLOCK) Newsgroups: net.consumers Subject: Re: But at what cost... Message-ID: <332@lzwi.UUCP> Date: Wed, 2-Oct-85 10:24:38 EDT Article-I.D.: lzwi.332 Posted: Wed Oct 2 10:24:38 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 3-Oct-85 05:55:38 EDT References: <388@decwrl.UUCP> <354@mecc.UUCP> <325@gcc-bill.ARPA> <1771@hao.UUCP> <4407@amdcad.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft Lines: 42 Summary: ... to whom? Can this discussion be reduced to a set of basic issues? 1. Save everybodies lives ( all of the time? ) 2. Save our lives on the road ( we being safe drivers etc. ) 3. Save the lives of suicidal maniacs ( that's not us. No. Never ) 4. Save the lives of pedestrians. 5. How much are we willing to pay for this safety. ( $ and time ) 6. How much are we going to make everyone else pay. 1 is foolish if not impossible. 2 implies that we do nothing. We are safe because we will never ever have an accident and we will always be able to avoid anyone elses. 3 says that we build cars so that the car will always protect its occupants. For example, all rigid parts, inside and out, must be covered with enough resilient padded to protect the occupants from any accident ( why are we still using steering wheels? Servos driven from a reasonable sized joystick would be so much safer! ). 4 is easy. Chain link fences along all public roads, reinforced with crash barriers. Pedestrian overpasses or underpasses at every intersection. 5 is the obvious problem because the answer is as little as possible. We are never going to see the benefit of any time or money invested because we never have accidents. 6 is going to get the same answer as 5. The only way out is to get someone with a big enough stick to make someone else pay. As a result of this analysis, we are going to have to compromise. Before I decide what to compromise on, I want to see some real data on auto incidents in the last few years. For instance, how many were head on, head to side, head to tail, flips, spins. Table according to road speed, road class, number of passengers, degree of injury, road condition, weather. -- -- {ihnp4|vax135|allegra}!lznv!nrh Nigel The Mad Englishman or The Madly Maundering Mumbler in the Wildernesses Everything you have read here is a figment of your imagination. Noone else in the universe currently subscribes to these opinions. "Its the rope, you know. You can't get it, you know."