This is actually a great idea:
The traffic signal on North Las Vegas’s North Commerce Street had been red for at least 29 seconds, but the Dodge Challenger did not slow down. Instead, it flew through the intersection with Cheyenne Avenue at 103 mph, almost three times the 35 mph speed limit. Carnage ensued.
The crash that occurred on January 29, 2022, was horrific. The Challenger, driven by Gary Dean Robinson, slammed into the right side of a Toyota Sienna minivan crossing the intersection. Robinson and his passenger were killed, as were all seven people in the minivan (including four children).
Erlinda Zacarias, the mother of four of the crash victims and sister to another, told the local CBS station that her family was returning from a visit to a park. “I kept calling everybody’s phone because all of them have phones and nobody answered me,” she said. Fearing the worst, she drove toward where she imagined her family might be and soon found the crash site. “I started screaming,” Zacarias said.
Over 100 Americans die in traffic collisions on an average day, but 9 fatalities from a single incident is exceptional. Crash investigations are typically handled by local authorities, but in this case, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also launched one of its own. In its findings and recommendations, which were released last week, NTSB placed blame on Robinson, whose body showed evidence of PCP, alcohol, and cocaine. Robinson also had a history of reckless driving, leading NTSB to cite “Nevada’s failure to deter the driver’s speeding recidivism.” Those findings and related recommendations were unsurprising.
But NTSB’s investigation summary also included something else: The agency recommended that automakers install technology on all new cars that can prevent reckless speeding—and, for the first time, called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to mandate it.
That is an excellent, overdue idea.
There really is no reason why vehicles are not governed for top speeds. I’m sure as a much younger and dumber man I could come up with a whole bunch of unique circumstances and counterfactuals explaining why this is a bad idea, but as an older and just as dumb just in different ways, I know all of that is bullshit. I’ve lived my entire adult life without ever needing to drive 100 miles and hour. Ever. Are there some situations where you absolutely have to go 102 mph and if you don’t, you die. Maybe. But you know what, if that happens, you can blame statistics and the universe and you gotta die somehow.
It was another beautiful fall day today, so of course I went to the orchard. Got some more beets and a butternut squash and an acorn squash, and picked up a beautiful apple pie. Also picked up a 5lb bag of Ludacrisps, and they are crispy as all hell.
I got double of everything (except the pie), stopped by the parents to drop off some squash, beets, and to have dad cut the pie in half, and to spend some quality time with Callie, who is just a delightful dog.
She’s such a goofy little thing- she reminds me of a combination of Lily and Samantha- all after market parts, the legs are too long, the underbite, the big eyes- just cracks me up. And she is such a ball of energy.
That reminds me, I need to show you all a picture of my sister’s new cat Magnus.