At 09:59 AM 11/13/2009, mcneely4@cox.net wrote:
>that some of them will be drunk or dead tired.  That said, I
>personally feel a responsibility to others not to be drunk or dead
>tired, because the father I may kill has responsibilities, too
>(substitute whatever family member you wish). Have I driven while
>dead tired?  Yes.  Did I have a choice?  Yes.  Have I grown up
>enough to know better and not do it now?  Yes.
>
>David

Dear David,

Yes.  It's a very complicated issue and I try to have a nuanced view
of it.  That sort of antinomy comes home to roost every time I drive
the van, because I know very well that in a frontal collision I'm
really remarkably safe -- but it's very much at the expense of the
other vehicle.  Unlike the bus, which is by my standards way too soft
in front, the Vanagon has about a three-inch-deep heavy steel crush
bar (the "real" bumper) and then does its level best to impersonate a
block of stone, reflecting maximum crash energy back into the opposing vehicle.

http://www.vanagon.com/info/safety/volvo-crash/index.html

This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukq-UUQAcZs&feature=related
should be ignored -- this was not a test of the van but rather of the
barrier itself (notice no index markings on the vehicle) and the van
was both heavily loaded and driven at a speed to release about twenty
times the energy of a more typical crash.

But look at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pityxv0DW7M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwa9vdq8dvw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGKlWqSadlQ&feature=related
Together they make up a film about 20 minutes long.

Point being that I have along with everyone else on this list made a
choice (just as many SUV drivers have, or at least *think* they have)
to drive a vehicle with a configuration that I like extremely well,
but inherently requires that my safety in a crash may be bought at
the expense of someone elses safety.  I find that extremely sobering
and try to remember it often.  And it *is* a choice -- the lack of
this protection in a bus is one of the major reasons why I'm not very
interested in having one.

Yours,
David

Yours,
David