On 2005-10-24, fasgnadh (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
Brash wrote:
Nineteen-month-old Andie Kearns remains on a respirator in a critical but
stable condition in The Children's Hospital, Randwick, after she was
accidentally run over by her father in the driveway of the family home on
Saturday.

Very sad. I hope the little tike gets well soon. But raging against a
machine, be it a 4WD or a centrfire rifle, serves no purpose. The machines
can't hear you, and aren't to blam anyway.

A diahatsu charade has a rear blind spot of a few metres when a
two year old is standing behind it.

For a 4WD its over 15 metres.

Anecdotal only, I know, but the people of aus.bicycle heard last week
about my latest adventures.

Of the last 4 vehicles I have come into contact with, 3 were 4WDs (the
other was a stolen vehicle, where the drivers deliberately rammed me,
and one of the 4WDs was being controlled by a road rager who
fortunately chose to get out of his ego-cage in order to assault me).

This says *something* about either 4WDs, or their drivers.

'They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable
about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving
skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centred and self-absorbed,
with little interest in their neighbours or communities.'
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/...174396370.html

http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulle...256E24001A1266

'Fred J Schaafsma, a top engineer for General Motors, says,
"Sport-utility owners tend to be more like 'I wonder how people view
me', and are more willing to trade off flexibility or functionality to
get that."'
http://afr.com/articles/2004/04/01/1080544625539.html

"According to Bradsher, internal industry market research concluded
that SUVs tend to be bought by people who are insecure, vain,
self-centred and self-absorbed, who are frequently nervous about their
marriages, and who lack confidence in their driving skills."

I.e, exactly the people you *don't* want driving 4WDs, think that
they should be driving them. And it turns out it is no safer for them
to drive 4WDs, than a normal car, and is is *hugely* unsafe for the
rest of us, for them to be driving said.

--
TimC
MacOSX: Sort of like a pedigree persian cat. Very sleek, very
sexy, but a little too prone to going cross-eyed, biting you on
your thumb and then throwing up on your trousers. -- Jim in ASR