If it ain’t brake, don’t fix it.
The people who don’t get it are the ones who need it the most.
Actually, no. Real scientists will not say that. They will say, after having a good look at accident statistics of cyclists with non-functional brakes, that brakes are over-compensated safety devices. I.E. you drive much safer knowing that your brakes do not work than with working brakes. This is also known as risk overcompensation.
The same is true for bicycle lights, btw.
Brakes are pretty simple to fix. Rotors on my car are only about $20 each and the Pads about $40 for the set. You can swap it all out in about 30 minutes. Also most mechanics I’ve met are pretty reasonable and honest so long as you don’t go to a chain or a dealer.
A very brief moment of dialog from an old TV show has been stuck in my brain for decades, and I guess it’s time to let it out:
Jed: “Jethro, I thought I told you to get rid of them brakes.”
Jethro: “I did, Uncle Jed. That’s how come we ain’t got none.”
I’m fairly solidly libertarian, but I don’t see any conflict between libertarianism and requiring vaccinations.
Yes, my freedom to extend my fist stops where your nose begins. What about when billions or trillions of my cells are shedding harmful viruses of one form or another? To the extent that I had some say over whether they would do so or not, it’s not outrageous to insist that I choose the option where they wouldn’t do that so much.
To the microbial world, humanity is one vast petri dish. Political ideals must bow before the reality of the universal smorgasbord that is nature.
Am I the only one here that thinks maybe the mechanic maybe has a fairly good point? Bringing up a correlation between brakes and crashes seems like it may be confusing cause and effect a bit. I expect there’s probably a similar correlation between crashes and airbags going off.Should they also be removed to prevent crashes? What are you supposed to do in an emergency with no brakes? Confused.
I’ve just realized this is clearly a joke post. slaps forehead
Hmmm … this is about vaccination, isn’t it?
My bicycle has brakes, but I never use 'em. They are hard to operate while I’m steering with my feet.
replacing your brake pads or rotors are some of the cheapest, simplest repairs a home mechanic can do. people just choose to get worked up about stuff.
that said, I’d love for the automatic transmission to be banned, if not outright then at least for the vehicles used to take the driving exam. The ability to adjust speed via the drivetrain is a better option when available, and understanding how to do it makes one a far better driver, IMO. If you make operating a potentially lethal device so simple an idiot can do it, they will. In other words, with a manual transmission, you are always engaged in planning ahead to adjust one’s speed, making you more mindful and engaged in driving overall. If you know how to downshift, then this mindfulness applies to slowing down as well as speeding up. Brakes bail you out of emergencies, but in combination with automatic transmissions, they also allow you to dick around on your phone etc, thereby creating an emergency, and then rely on the brake at the last possible moment. Which increases the potential for failure. Of course, since downshifting is optional on a manual, braking can still be abused, but understanding how to use gearing just for increasing speed still makes one more mindful and engaged behind the wheel.
hell, everyone who skis, snowboards, skateboards, ice skates, or rollerblades not only has a vehicle with no brakes, they don’t even have any damned steering wheels! ban everything! no fun allowed!
Edit: so… this is about libertarians and vaccines. gee, believe it or not, not everyone reads every single thing you post to determine the context when you make a joke, cory : /
If the anti-brakers win, won’t we lose herd-immobility?
I see what you did there…
Great job of fighting the absurd with the absurd…
PS I brake for the absurdity challenged
I HAVE STRONG OPINIONS ABOUT THINGS, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS IS AN ALAGORY!?! WE ARE TALKING ABOUT BRAKES DAMMIT, THIS IS IMPORTANT.
Hehehehehehhehhe.
Meh. Why worry about brakes when there are people who propose eating human babies as food :-o
Haven’t you heard of ‘herd safety’? The personal decision to opt out of brakes is safe because enough other people do have them.
EDIT: Missed LemoUtan’s similar, earlier comment.
Lots of shaky logic in this one followed by advice without a solid base of research. Kinda scary when lives are involved. best example of this is the coralation between people not using brakes decades ago and less car accidents… yup he is sciencing pretty hard.
Political ideas do come face to face with reality, and not just with biology. The problem is that politicians usually won’t admit it until they are actually dead. Not while there is a single undecided voter who prefers to believe some random blogger over boring old scientists.
Some years ago a study by the British Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL) concluded, in short, that about 50% of people are too stupid or careless to drive safely, but fortunately the other 50% make enough allowances for them that accidents are fairly rare.
For some reason, the anti-EPA Republicans believe that it is all right for commercial companies to decide what substances you will breathe or get in your water supply, but not the elected government. We already have lobbyists that try to get laws passed that may have unintended consequences, for profit. So this is a straw man argument.
Back in the days of leaded gasoline, you had no choice about breathing tetra ethyl lead. After WW2, you had no choice about being exposed to fallout from nuclear tests. These are examples where the authoritarians, in commercial companies and government, enforced negative consequences on people. Organisations like the EPA are treated as if they were prejudiced, whereas the SAE and the Pentagon get a free pass. It would be better, frankly, if the independent scientists could be more authoritarian and the lobbyists were sent to build bridges in Alaska.
