What are their priorities?
I often get ideas to write about based on what I see other drivers doing, from photos I’ve taken, ideas from my new students and instructors I’m training and also what’s current in the news. I will often search news sources to see what catches my attention. That explains why I have an issue with some recent news I’ve come across.
I recently heard that a type of vehicle was being recalled because of safety issues. That’s not a bad thing, right? The more I listened to this radio report, the more I was shocked as to their reasoning. The recall was for a glove box that may hurt the passenger if they were in a crash and weren’t wearing their seatbelt. Are they serious?
The next thing we’ll be hearing is that a recall will begin because the windshield will cause facial damage if the driver is in a collision and isn’t wearing their seatbelt. What about the metal framing too? Won’t that break bones if the driver is thrown about the seating compartment if they aren’t wearing their seatbelt and are involved in a collision as well?
We need to be accountable for our own actions. If safety features are used, none of these injuries would even be given a second look. If I get injured because of the airbag that came out during a collision, do I get upset at the airbag? What’s the alternative of the airbag injuring me if it didn’t come out or was removed from the vehicle? Oh yeah; my face going through the windshield or the steering wheel breaking my ribs.
My daughter was playing around with a portable picnic table at home the other day. As I’ve said many times to my kids play with toys and only toys. Well, she fell off the seat of the table that wasn’t secured and scraped her chin. Was I upset with the table because my child was injured from it? Should I throw out the table because she was hurt by it? No is the answer to both those questions. If she left the table alone and secured as it was to begin with and sat on the bench like she should have, she would not have been injured.
The same has to be said to this recall. If the occupants of the vehicle had their seatbelt on, like the laws say they should, it becomes a “non-issue” for a “faulty” glove box. Sometimes, logic takes a backseat in our driving society and that worries me more than injuring my femur.