I just backed over my kid, it must be the cars fault!

I just think it is completely idiotic that I can go ride my motorcycle every day in shorts and flip-flops, and yet if I want a part-time use sports car I have to have ABS, TCS, a camera, airbags, etc. And I am expected to pay the premium for all these things I don't want. I'm an informed consumer, I know what I want, the government should leave it's fat fingers out of it.
 
I was thinking more like how when I go and open my own webcam it occasionally glitches out.

Those are completely different things, backup camera displays aren't even remotely close to the quality/lag of a webcam. Like he said, CCTV in the security room of a bldg, thats what the backup camera, all hardwired and real time.
 
I just think it is completely idiotic that I can go ride my motorcycle every day in shorts and flip-flops, and yet if I want a part-time use sports car I have to have ABS, TCS, a camera, airbags, etc. And I am expected to pay the premium for all these things I don't want. I'm an informed consumer, I know what I want, the government should leave it's fat fingers out of it.

Remember the good old days when they didn't care that much and let cars do what cars would do?

It's because lawyers weren't all over the place enabling ppl to sue for no reason.

Why does the govt. pass such stupid safety regulations now?



The lawyers





The lawyers are the ones you should shoot. The govt is merely reacting so officials will get elected again.
 
The lawyers are the ones you should shoot.

Way to bring this to a new level :rolleyes:

Lawyers don't make clients decide to sue other people. That decision is made before the client goes out and hires a lawyer in the first place. Blaming lawyers instead of clients for lawsuits is like blaming infantrymen instead of politicians for wars.

Sorry for the tangent; just had to say my peace as long as someone is saying I should be shot.
 
Even if you don't enter Spectre's hyperbolic chamber, these things do add cost for little benefit. Thing is, they are not designed in to lower price models, for good reason. For one, a small hatchback is generally low enough to see the heads of kids out the rear window. Two, they're models least likely to include a nav system or similar. Three, and most importantly, they're built to a cost, so what screens there are are generally not more than two color.

So, the low end of the market would need redesigns, they would need screens installed, and they'd need a markup to justify the added cost. Remember, this is the market segment where the price is the most important factor. For what benefit? I can see out the back of my car fine, the average kid walking down the street is above my window line. Kids should be taught from an early age to get out of the way of a running car - I was, and the vehicles around my area had much bigger blind spots than the ones Spectre and Mitlov are arguing about.

The only vehicles that need them are high, SUV type things - and those don't even need them if your kids aren't morons.

Not if the kid is young (and i.e. small) enough. eg I wouldn't be able to see a 2 year old out the back of my low, thin-pillared car, let alone a higher, newer car. And I know 2 year olds who love to run around the backs of cars to hide from you.
 
I know the media loves to appeal to the motherly aspect of this story, but seriously what is a two year old doing behind a car unattended. The case they cited in the news was an eighteen month old. How does that happen? Who even lets their kid out of their site outside at that age? 2.7 billions dollars tacked on to the price of new cars because there are 250 retard parents out there.
 
I know the media loves to appeal to the motherly aspect of this story, but seriously what is a two year old doing behind a car unattended. The case they cited in the news was an eighteen month old. How does that happen? Who even lets their kid out of their site outside at that age? 2.7 billions dollars tacked on to the price of new cars because there are 250 retard parents out there.

(1) Multiple children distract you. Kid A throws a shitfit, and while you're dealing with that, Kid B makes a break for freedom.

(2) Two parents each think that the child is with the other parent. Even if that misunderstanding only exists for a few minutes, a kid can make a break for freedom.

These things can happen, even to good parents. Hell, when I was about three, I busted out my parents front door and took off while my mother was up to her elbows in a raw turkey that she was stuffing. I made it to our property line before my five-year-old brother (sent by my mother) grabbed me by the back of my overalls.

If I made it to the property line, I certainly could have made it into a driveway (if we had a driveway in front of our house).
 
I know the media loves to appeal to the motherly aspect of this story, but seriously what is a two year old doing behind a car unattended. The case they cited in the news was an eighteen month old. How does that happen? Who even lets their kid out of their site outside at that age? 2.7 billions dollars tacked on to the price of new cars because there are 250 retard parents out there.

(1) Multiple children distract you. Kid A throws a shitfit, and while you're dealing with that, Kid B makes a break for freedom.

(2) Two parents each think that the child is with the other parent. Even if that misunderstanding only exists for a few minutes, a kid can make a break for freedom.

These things can happen, even to good parents. Hell, when I was about three, I busted out my parents front door and took off while my mother was up to her elbows in a raw turkey that she was stuffing. I made it to our property line before my five-year-old brother (sent by my mother) grabbed me by the back of my overalls.

If I made it to the property line, I certainly could have made it into a driveway (if we had a driveway in front of our house).

This. Even the best and most loving parents make occasional mistakes. And you would be surprised at what very young children can do. This 2 year old that likes to hide behind cars can also unlock both of the front doors of her house, one of which she can do with a key. Hence why a dead bolt lock has been installed.....
 
Uh, Spectre...

The ball started rolling on this pre-Obamaunism. You can't blame everything on him you know.

You expected less of Spectre?

So, you're claiming that regulations have made problems worse and not better? :p


Part of the problem is how the manufacturers have chosen to meet those standards. As always they have chosen to go with the least expensive route and that is why all of those pillars are so wide. If they would simply use better and thicker steel, they could reduce the size of them.


I just think it is completely idiotic that I can go ride my motorcycle every day in shorts and flip-flops, and yet if I want a part-time use sports car I have to have ABS, TCS, a camera, airbags, etc. And I am expected to pay the premium for all these things I don't want. I'm an informed consumer, I know what I want, the government should leave it's fat fingers out of it.

So you would blindly trust a company not to poison you and then inform you that they were? (see Chinese imported milk formula)
Not all Government regulations are bad. The real problem is the politician that has to look like they are doing something so they can get re-elected.



And this entire problem could go away if people would take a moment to walk around the car before they get into it. It is a simple way to look over the car to see any possible problems(low tire etc) and make sure nothing is behind it before it starts moving.
 
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So me with no kids, wants to buy a Lotus, a two seater with racing seats that wont fit a car seat anyway. That has to have a LCD screen and back up camera because some moms somewhere backed over their kids. I mean the CDC says the majority of kids under 14 who die in cars is because of drunk drivers and not using a seat belt, maybe first all cars should come with a breathalyzer and motorized seat belts. That would save over 1,000 lives a year, just in kids under 14.
 
Who here is in the habit of using their mirror for reversing? Who turns around over their shoulder and looks out the back/sides?

It depends.
When backing up around other cars, for example when parallel parking, I use the wing mirrors and looks over my shoulder. The wing mirrors show me the edge of my car and the surrounding cars in relation to said edge, while the looks over my shoulder make sure nobody is walking there.
When reversing down our one way street I only look over my shoulder.
My rear view mirror (the one in the middle) is for looking back while driving forwards.
 
I will admit I use my rearview mirror for reversing more than I should or would like to, but I always do a quack check over my shoulder before I reverse to make sure there is nothing nbehind me out of the view of my mirror. Really should work on that!!! :lol:
 
Sorry if this has been mentioned already, I didn't go through the whole thread, but for most cars a $10 mirror should do the trick.

suv-van-backup-mirror.jpg


Combined with side mirrors you should be able to eliminate blind spots.

And as for the vilification of parents who run over their own kids, well before I became a parent I might have joined in, but it isn't really justified. They're f'n ninja.
 
First, what hansvonaxion posted.
Second, this is just ridiculous. Forcing expensive equipment into ALL cars is just dumb. Rear mounted cameras and the needed screen up front, to solve a problem that affects a tiny tiny tiny percentage of the total crashes in that country. As said before, 80% of crashes are a result of people eating in their cars.
I'm not saying all americans are bad, and all american things suck, but they should focus on solving the larger problems, not the specific ones like this. Eating and drinking in a car should be as illegal as talking on your phone or even more. When was the last time ketchup dripped from your phone and you crashed into the car in front cos you were trying to clean it off your blouse?
I get it that you like driving along sipping coffee but it's not safe. Can't it wait 10 minutes till you reach your place of work or home? I've been told by americans that a car that doesn't have nice cupholders just doesn't sell. Which is messed up in a ton of different levels.

As to the backing on kids thing, it's a mix of badly educated kids and badly educated drivers. Always back up slowly and teach your kid to stay clear of cars that have the white light behind them lit, and that if a car hits them, scream as soon as you can so the driver will stop.

Want a cheap fix for this? Make all cars mandatory to have an aural alert when engaging reverse, like two short beeps (not a long constant horn like lorries, that's annoying)
 
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I didn't check whether there actually are any in there, but my A-pillars have airbag logos on them:
There's a couple of reasons, first of all the logo is placed there because it's in the customers field of view, and knowing/believing he has airbags all over the places makes him happy. The little plastic covers also serves to hide the fixing of the pillar trim, and thirdly they act as a small caution because while the A-pillar normally does not host the airbag, it may host the charge and some tensioners that ensure the airbag deploys correctly. You can also place this in the C-pillar, or both, depending on how the designer is feeling. The airbag itself though usually deploys from the B-pillar to insure it covers all potential occupants within roughly the same time frame.

Here's an example of tensioners and part of the charge from your other car.
http://img212.imageshack.**/img212/4442/dsc00235largedb9.th.jpg
 
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There's a couple of reasons, first of all the logo is placed there because it's in the customers field of view, and knowing/believing he has airbags all over the places makes him happy. The little plastic covers also serves to hide the fixing of the pillar trim, and thirdly they act as a small caution because while the A-pillar normally does not host the airbag, it may host the charge and some tensioners that ensure the airbag deploys correctly. You can also place this in the C-pillar, or both, depending on how the designer is feeling. The airbag itself though usually deploys from the B-pillar to insure it covers all potential occupants within roughly the same time frame.

Here's an example of tensioners and part of the charge from your other car.
http://img212.imageshack.**/img212/4442/dsc00235largedb9.th.jpg

Yeah... it may not contain the actual bag, but it does contain airbag components. In other words, without the airbag it might have been less chunky.
 
A well programmed ESC system can smoothly provide intervention
I concur the couple of times I would trip ESC (ESP in my case) in my car I would only know it because the little light turns on the dash, otherwise the drives the same just gets under control very easily. All the system does is manage the amount of torque/power available for each wheel and brakes wheels individually as necessary to maintain traction.
This. Even the best and most loving parents make occasional mistakes. And you would be surprised at what very young children can do. This 2 year old that likes to hide behind cars can also unlock both of the front doors of her house, one of which she can do with a key. Hence why a dead bolt lock has been installed.....
+1 I managed to get out of a stroller (that you lay in) push it off the brake and fall out all in the space of my dad unlocking apartment door and my parents are way over protective even now....
Second, this is just ridiculous. Forcing expensive equipment into ALL cars is just dumb. Rear mounted cameras and the needed screen up front, to solve a problem that affects a tiny tiny tiny percentage of the total crashes in that country. As said before, 80% of crashes are a result of people eating in their cars.
Spectre posted the actual language of the law earlier, it does not mandate a camera at all, just a way to see whats in the back.
Eating and drinking in a car should be as illegal as talking on your phone or even more. When was the last time ketchup dripped from your phone and you crashed into the car in front cos you were trying to clean it off your blouse?
That comes from human stupidity, on the off chance that I am driving and eating I would absolutely ignore any dripping unless I'm stationary.
I get it that you like driving along sipping coffee but it's not safe.
If you can't handle sipping coffee (any beverage) while driving you should not have a driver's license....
Can't it wait 10 minutes till you reach your place of work or home? I've been told by americans that a car that doesn't have nice cupholders just doesn't sell. Which is messed up in a ton of different levels.
If I choose to drive to work it takes me 30-40 minutes assuming medium amount of traffic. When going out 40-60 minutes is not unheard of and this is in a city that, geographically speaking, is fairly small. You can ask Mitlov about 100 mile daily commute he used to have... A couple of people I know drive 30-60 miles daily just to get to the TRAIN station that will later take them to work. Depending on how you are some people can't function without their morning coffee.

As far as cup holders go, they are actually make it better to drive. I have a friend who had a car without cup holders, it was a manual, everytime he had a beverage in the car he would let go off the wheel to shift because his other hand was occupied. A cupholder allows you to set your drink down while you are moving and just sip while you are at a traffic light OR stationary for some other reason.
 
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If I choose to drive to work it takes me 30-40 minutes assuming medium amount of traffic. When going out 40-60 minutes is not unheard of and this is in a city that, geographically speaking, is fairly small. You can ask Mitlov about 100 mile daily commute he used to have... A couple of people I know drive 30-60 miles daily just to get to the TRAIN station that will later take them to work. Depending on how you are some people can't function without their morning coffee.

As far as cup holders go, they are actually make it better to drive. I have a friend who had a car without cup holders, it was a manual, everytime he had a beverage in the car he would let go off the wheel to shift because his other hand was occupied. A cupholder allows you to set your drink down while you are moving and just sip while you are at a traffic light OR stationary for some other reason.

Couldn't agree more. But just to clarify, it was about 70 miles each way, not 100. Took about 80 minutes door-to-door in the morning and another at the end of the day. I didn't talk on my cell phone, eat, shave, etc in the car, but you bet I drank water or tea (from a lidded container) and chewed gum. Otherwise I would have fallen asleep at the wheel some mornings. Which I'm pretty sure is more dangerous than sipping on some Earl Grey from a travel mug.
 
Wait, I'm still really confused by the original story.

1. The kid didn't see the coming van and didn't jump out of the way?
2. When hit, the kid didn't start screaming or anything to alert the driver?
3. Hitting a kid surely must be noticeable when you're behind the wheel? Like a speed bump or something?
 
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