RE: 120mph??? Yes.

["Dan Sinclair" <sinclair@prospro.com>]

You wrote:
>Along this vane, its silly for the government
>to mandate seat belt usage, helmets on motorcycles, or even drugs.  All
>they are doing is telling people not to take risks with their own lives.

I don't want to start a PC debate thread, but this is a point that I think
is worth addressing given that I've heard this argument dozens of times in
person and in the media, yet I've seldom heard anyone rebutt.  Especially in
regard to the "mandatory motorcycle helmet" opponents.

>Everyone should be responsible for their own risk...

There's a flip side of this coin that few consider.  I agree everyone SHOULD
be responsible for their own risk, but RESPONSIBILITY runs deep.  When you
take said risks, for instance, on public roadways in the United States, your
automatically entitled to emergency medical service, hospital care, State
Police intervention, accident investigation, legal representation etc. and
all of those are paid for and funded by the taxes of your fellow man.  If
you can't pay to keep yourself vegetative in a coma after a head injury in a
motorcycle accident, they don't leave you to bleed to death on the roadside
to live out your "personal decision" - instead someone else foots the bill.
Your voluntary act that "is no one's business but your own" has just become
the responsibility others.  Insurance premiums are raised, taxes are
increased, law suits are filed, others ARE affected...  If we are going to
advocate that everyone's risk is a personal decision that should be exempt
from government regulation, then individual risk should not be the
responsibility of the public.  If public roadways are your race track, then
they should be treated as such.  Race car drivers don't get publicly funded
medical care, and they don't get to pass the consequences of their high-risk
lifestyle on to the public.  Their race tracks are not maintained with tax
dollars, and their medical bills don't affect public insurance premiums.

With all that being said, I will readily admit that I've broken the law on
numerous occasions.  I've done 75 in a 65 zone.  I've done 140 in a 50 zone.
I've taken unnecessary risks, and I've even been tried in District Court for
Negligent Driving of which I was found NOT GUILTY.  But I paid for my own
legal representation, I did auto body work for 4 hours a night after an 9
hour work day to repair my totaled vehicle with my own money, not an
insurance settlement, and I learned that your actions are seldom if ever
totally autonomous.

If you don't like the laws of the United States, fight to change them, run
for office, lobby the legislature, or choose to break them, but don't delude
yourself into thinking that you're entitled to break the laws as you see fit
because "your risk is your business and your business alone".  While working
as a legal intern, every drunk driver I met offered up that same rationale
to defend themselves - didn't make their victims any less dead, didn't make
their lives any less ruined.

Again though, my original message was "be careful" NOT "be anal".  There's a
difference.

Catharsis done, soapbox off.

Dan Sinclair
1988 Audi 90, 68K mi.
Photo and details online at:
http://131.107.68.28/a4.org/registry/details.asp?car=761

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-quattro@coimbra.ans.net
[mailto:owner-quattro@coimbra.ans.net]On Behalf Of Michael Williams
Sent: Friday, March 05, 1999 12:35 AM
To: spokes@mail.the-wire.com; quattro@coimbra.ans.net
Subject: Re: 120mph??? Yes.


spokes@mail.the-wire.com decided to speak these words:

>Regardless of whether there is traffic on the road or not...what happens if
>a tire blows?  There isn't anything that's going to save you...not at those
>speeds, not even the beloved quattro system.


Here is a thought.  So what.  When you travel that fast, youtake a risk.
I personally accept that risk and try to minimize it as much as possible.
 but there are a billion variables.

I dont understand why anyone should be able to tell anyone else the level
of risk they should take.  Along this vane, its silly for the government
to mandate seat belt usage, helmets on motorcycles, or even drugs.  All
they are doing is telling people not to take risks with their own lives.
Seriously, there is no real risk to the passenger if there is an accident
and the driver isnt wearing their seat belt, or if a motorcyclist isnt
wearing a helmet, it doesnt endanger anyone else.

Everyone should be responsible for their own risk...

later...

Michael Sheridan Williams
ICQ# 11740998
1983 UrQuattro, MC'd, koni yellows, borla, OZ Mito's w/ SP8000's
1985 4000S Quattro miles, Koni Yellows/Coilover (2B), strut brace, Sport
8000 Tires, K&N
http://members.aol.com/daserde2