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OP, you just sound mad only because you are caught vs everyone else. I agree, this sucks. I hate when I'm the one singled out for things others have done as well. But at some point, you gotta own up for your actions. New York is big in revenue creation through speed traps, especially at the end of the month and holiday weekends. Perhaps just changing your actions can prevent the revenuers from taking your hard earned money?
OP, you just sound mad only because you are caught vs everyone else. I agree, this sucks. I hate when I'm the one singled out for things others have done as well. But at some point, you gotta own up for your actions. New York is big in revenue creation through speed traps, especially at the end of the month and holiday weekends. Perhaps just changing your actions can prevent the revenuers from taking your hard earned money?
I think people need to start speaking up about this kind of government meddling. That is perhaps part of what earned us President-(Elect) Trump.
Quote:
Originally Posted by yspobo
Five year olds have been riding on the school bus for decades now. And it's only been in recent years that a five year old is required to have a car seat. When my daughter was five she wasn't required to have one anymore.
The extension of the requirement for car seats out of infancy and the increasing stringency of those requirements are examples of over-regulation. These requirements also show that government does not weigh the financial interest of the average person trying to pay a mortgage or rent, property taxes and other ordinary expenses. They just don't care.
The larger issue with car seats is that skimping out on a child's safety should not be part of anyone's financial plan.
I am 59 years old. How did I survive without car seats and airbags, many of those malfunctioning? Somehow we survived.
And most importantly, why have we expanded the car seat requirement to ages as high as five years old? I would think that most children over for could be told to sit still, and not need to be restrained by a car seat.
Should we wait to hear from those who did not survive? There are meanwhile more than 5 million automobile accidents in the US every year. About 3 million people suffer some form of injury in those accidents. Unrestrained adults are at elevated risk of injury. Unrestrained children are at much worse levels of elevated risk. One of the primary functions of government involves public health and safety. 2 + 2 = 4.
Should we wait to hear from those who did not survive? There are meanwhile more than 5 million automobile accidents in the US every year. About 3 million people suffer some form of injury in those accidents. Unrestrained adults are at elevated risk of injury. Unrestrained children are at much worse levels of elevated risk. One of the primary functions of government involves public health and safety. 2 + 2 = 4.
If no one leaves their house every day, then risk would also be reduced by a lot. There's a simple principle that many people don't understand; risk management.
This post is occasioned by innocuous events of the last several weeks that points to some glaring problems, all involving over-regulation. These rules and procedures are costly, inefficient and provide few benefits.
Security desks and entrance regulations at schools - A few days ago I went to drop a cell phone off for my son at his high school. He had called and I said I would leave it at the principal's office. I was greeted at the front door by a friendly and pleasant security guard. I had to leave it with him. We got to talking. I pointed out that back in the day I visited my high school alma mater and went right to teachers' offices, and to my old club offices. Now that would be impossible. He pointed out that there used to be all kinds of entrances and exits that people could use. Now every entrance is a cluster and a delay, all because of the one-off incident in Sandy Hook. We went centuries before Sandy Hook without such rules; are there suddenly hundreds of monsters out there that would kill children? Remember most such tragedies, such as Columbine, involve current students, not outsiders.
Cell phone and texting restrictions while driving - I get that people can be distracted by such activities. But wouldn't it be better if people could alert their destination that they were running late rather than speeding?
Security at office buildings - Right after 9/11 we began seeing almost all office buildings having restricted access for "security" reasons. Any reason a terrorist bent on making a statement couldn't just blow himself up anywhere he sees a line, such as a theater entrance or subway station? We have made it impossible for people such as myself, for example, who are looking for jobs to simply show up, hand in a CV and demonstrate motivation and drive. Or for spouses to surprise each other at work? Or close friends similarly? How many terror attacks are really prevented this way?
Security at airports - We have made air travel cumbersome. Thus, for example, I am planning to travel to Washington, DC a few weeks from now from the New York City area. Train travel is ridiculously expensive for a trip of about 5 hours. If I take a plane, back in the day it was a shuttle that was about a one hour flight. Now, adding security time at airport, it's 3 hours. Maybe I'll just drive. Heck, gas is cheap these days. Imagine the financial impact this must be having on the air industry? It would make far more sense to do spot checking, behavioral profiling, and the random use of sky marshals. But hey, it's racist to target people at war with us.
Low speed limits - See this thread (link). Low and arbitrary limits are only selectively enforced on a "shooting fish in a barrel" basis. They contribute nothing to safety since in general traffic flows at around 70 on highways, and 40 or 45 on most secondary roads.
All of these rules, and more that other think of, are annoying at best. At worst, they detract from productivity and waste valuable time and resources.
Let me speak first-hand about your post in regard to #1. We had a really good school. Serious disciplinary events rarely occurred at our school. But keeping kids safe should be the number one priority at a school...even more important than learning. A dead kid learns nothing. As peaceful and as highly rated as our school was (one of the ten best in Virginia), we were fire bombed once. Another time we had an estranged parent with a gun come in and kidnap his daughter. Another time there was a small ring of thieves who would go to a school during the day, walk through and look for empty classrooms, and go in and steal personal belongings of teachers and school equipment. I could go on.
In re cell phones and texting, I have been almost in collisions a half-dozen times in the last 10 years. Every single time the other driver was texting or talking on a cell phone. If you wanna text, pull over.
And in the meantime, the Glass-Steagal Act still hasn't been reinstated, and banks and wall street are still bundling iffy investment packages together to sell to your pension fund managers. One of the latest bubbles, believe it or not, is almond groves in California. Wall Street is actually EXPANDING almond farming in CA, buying up marginal land at the height of the drought, and planting it with almond trees, to capitalize on the boom in international demand for the product. How long do you think that bubble is going to last, before the drought brings it crashing down? And the CA legislature is allowing this.
Deregulation is what caused bankruptcies in the airline industry, and outsourcing of plane interiors construction to Mexico.
Regulation is your friend.
Your thread topic isn't really about regulation, OP. It's about the need for more security. And by the way, no one's stopping you from pulling over to the side of the road to do your phoning or texing, when you're in the car.
Frankly, I think the OP is just showing selfishness. Personally, I find it very reassuring to be safe.
Risk management mandates seat belts, air bags, and child safety seats.
Seat belts, absolutely. Safety seats, up to fourth birthday. But beyond that no. And as far as air bags, the recent Takata fiasco is teachable. And frankly that and other gold-plating requirements put newer, safer, and more environmentally sound cars out of the reach of many people.
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