What ever happened to freedom?

[Pl3wA]

this is hilarious

[Raxe]

Why would the airbag accidentally go off while you're leaning on it, professional mechanic?

I can count the amount of times that's happened in our shop over the last twenty years on 0 fingers. Pretty weak point.

[Mark 42]

It's not about the airbags in your car, it's about the airbags in public office. As a longtime motorcyclist, i wear a full face helmet and leather 99.9% of the time by free choice, i dont give a shit what the government mandates and feel they should not make that decision for me or anyone else.

A few years ago... I was almost written a ticket for moving my motorcycle a few spaces in a parking lot.

The story goes like this...

Wednesday nights is cruise night at the local A&W.
I called my wife and asked if she & the kids want to meet me there.
When I got there, the spaces around the A&W were not full, but I parked
next to another bike to save parking.

I put my riding gear in my wife's car.

We looked at the custom and classic cars, and decided to get a Pizza
at the pizza place in the same shopping center.

We started to walk to the pizza place, and I noticed the other bike was now
gone, and the custom cars were now filling the lot all the way out to the row
I had parked in. So I told my wife to go ahead & I'll catch up after I move my
bike farther from the A&W.

My stuff was locked in my wife's car, but I figured it was private property, and
I'm only moving the bike about 75 feet.

I start the bike, begin to ride at about 5 or 10 mph, and a cop on a
mountain bike yells at me to pull over.

So I pulled into a space, and asked what's up.
He says "You CANNOT ride w/o a helmet.

I explained what was going on & why I was moving the bike.

He said "No excuse"

I said "I thought I'd be okay because I'm on private property,
and just moving it a few spaces. I said it respectfully, not smart-assed.

He said "No, traffic laws apply in the parking lot too".

So I said "Oh, okay... sorry... next time I'll know"

He went back to his car & called it in to HQ.

I don't know if it was because someone told him "Don't write it" or
because I told him "You know what bothers me... I was being courteous
to the custom car guys, and now you're writing me a ticket"

I was never against helmet laws before that.

It's also part of why I detest the "Nanny State" our country is turning into.

[JinormusJ]

It's not about the airbags in your car, it's about the airbags in public office.

I see what you did there

[Massimo]

A car is a weapon.

Interesting fact in AUS. If you kill someone using leathal force it is murder. But if you run them over in your car it is manslaughter. Mind you this is as long as it is not premeditated.

[Mark 42]

The problem arises that the emergency room is required by law
to accept anyone in peril and stabilize them.

Freedom has a cost. I'm willing to pay the cost of letting people make choices about how
much risk they want to take. If people are willing to fight and die to protect our freedom,
I think we should not readily give that freedom up in the interest of "safety"

Eventually the government will decide that driving a car is too
complex for humans, and only computers will be allowed to
drive your car - in the interest of public safety.

[BamaE30]

Airbags have killed many people before the second generation airbags many children and smaller women passengers were victims.
It would be hard to get this repealed/removed as the passive soultion to saftey annual auto deaths are down about 10,000 per year.
Just take it out.... and drive as though you are invisable.... always the best idea if on bike or in a car don't trust that anyone sees you.

[jrobie79]

it's also part of why i detest the "nanny state" our country is turning into.

qft

[Mark 42]

Hey Bama - I used to live in the Rocket City. Okay, I worked there...
lived in Trinity. The first Rally Cross in that region was held on our property!

I miss living in a free state.

BTW, airbags are not passive restraints.
Seatbelts are passive, airbags are active systems.

That 10,000 saved lives number... does that take into account the fact that
seatbelts are required in most states now?
I never drive w/o a seatbelt, but I am against seatbelt laws, BTW.
I have always worn a seatbelt since I first started driving - someone who
I respect a lot encouraged me to wear one.

He was involved in an accident where if he had been wearing a seatbelt he
would have died, but he said he knows that the odds are definitely in favor
that a situation like that will not occur, and convinced it would certainly
never happen again for him.

I understood his logic, and decided to wear my seatbelt.
I wore a motorcycle helmet long before it was required by law (in Calif).

I just think that in a free society, people should be allowed to choose for themselves.

How many people in this thread advocating mandatory airbags are smokers?

Just take it out.... and drive as though you are invisable....
always the best idea if on bike or in a car don't trust that anyone sees you.

Now that I found some clarification on the law, and that it doesn't prohibit
the vehicle owner from removing the airbag himself, it'll be gone.

I'll keep it in a box in case I ever want to put it back to sell the car...
or want to put it under one of my kids' chair to launch them through
the ceiling :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drBLosdlils

[TurboJake]

I'm just going to leave my little tidbit on here.

I blame seat belts, airbags, and traction control for making terrible drivers. If people had a rational fear of impending death while driving a car there would be a lot less accidents, inattentive drivers, and risk takers on the highways.

That is all.

[Mark 42]

I blame seat belts, airbags, and traction control for making terrible drivers. If people had a rational fear of impending death while driving a car there would be a lot less accidents, inattentive drivers, and risk takers on the highways.

True enough in many cases. Teenagers are immortal though.

[e30jake]

[Leo_328i]

People who are laughing at this thread don't get the point.

I understand that most of you all here are Americans and I'm from down-under here in Australia. I was fortunate enough to be able to come to the USA in 2010 and live there for 6 months and I absolutely loved it, you guys are awesome.

Funny thing is that on the surface of things, Australia and the USA seem to have similar shared values and beliefs, but dig deeper and there is something that America has in spades compared to Australia - a profound respect for Freedom and Liberty.

Shamefully, in Australia a lot of people don't even understand what Liberty is. I'm glad that America has been a shining example in the world for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to vote and a general respect for her citizen's liberties.

Having said that, I completely understand where Mark42 is coming from here, not just in the USA, but in most of the western world we're constantly having our freedoms restricted as a lot of stupid politics gets in the way and takes our freedoms away with ever-tightening legislation. Is the world really better with more rules?

There are other things which are a serious problem, back in early 2010, the Australian Federal Government tried to censor the internet by proposing a 'blacklist' of websites which they could ban which would force ALL internet service providers to restrict users from being able to access the blacklisted sites. The scary thing is that this blacklist was to be remain hidden, out of the public domain and never be open to public scrutiny which would allow them to ban whatever they wanted.

The American Government then tried to do the same thing with SOPA and thank goodness it didn't get through. The fact that there are people out there are so keen to try and impose these restrictions on other people is DISGUSTING - the people's freedoms and liberties should be one of the most important considerations when creating new legislation.

[JinormusJ]

I agree with pretty much everything since my last post.

Wearing/having safety equipment is.. well.. kinda a good idea, but there shouldn't be a law governing the usage of said equipment. I shouldn't get a ticket just because I don't want to wear a seatbelt/have an airbag/etc. because, in most case, the only life in danger is my own and my death is simply because of my personal choices. If the guy wants to drive without his seatbelt, its HIS life; let him do it. Same with Helmets and Airbags. America really doesn't understand the concept of interference of personal discretion. Safety equipment should be more of a common sense suggestion at best.

Pretty soon America will be requiring twelve point harnesses and 60 airbags to be equip standard in case of driving over a pebble too fast. However, I will be zoom-zoom-zooming along in an airbag car with an Mtech II out of rebelliousness and irony so I really don't give a jack

[Pl3wA]

did you hear about the guy that stabbed some other guy to death, sodomized him, then ate him? pretty shitty