Raise the Hammer

To Ryan,

While holding a driver's license may be an artificial "privilege" granted by the state, ostensibly a certificate of competence and definitely a form of taxation, suggesting that driving lawfully down a public road is any less a right than walking down a sidewalk beside the same road is a real stretch. We would be outraged if police set up checkpoints on sidewalks to inspect all passers-by for illegal weapons, substances or outstanding warrants. How about checkpoints exiting shopping malls to inspect all our Christmas shopping bags for potential shoplifting infractions?

And as for curtailment of individual rights for the common driving good, shall we also submit to mass summary road-side detainments to search for unlicensed, uninsured drivers or unsafe vehicles? (As if this is not already part of the RIDE system) Or how about roadside driving ability tests to weed out the small percentage of drivers who manage to cause 70% of all fatal collisions due to inattention or incompetence?

At what point on the slippery slope are our rights unjustifiably infringed?

I'll answer that. When our collective rights are summarily interferred with on a mass scale to POSSIBLY catch a minority involved in illegal activities. When Canadians blindly accept that merely driving down the road during a certain time of the year is sufficient reason for mass detainment and search, there is something very wrong with our idea of civil and personal rights.


Volvo driver- While you personally may drive no differently, or possibly more cautiously, since your shift to Volvo, there is a reasonable foundation for the general logic behind stereotypes. (can't remember where I read the reference, could have been Tipping Point, Blink or Freakonomics) But when combined with Ryan's reference to "risk homeostasis", the premise holds water.

Since I also ride a comparatively small, quiet 500cc motorcycle, I am acutely aware of the dangers posed by other drivers, and have likewise learned to "sense" which situations, locations and types of vehicle to avoid or observe closely while riding. Think 25+ years of vehicular survival training. Surprisingly, drivers wearing hats figure prominently as requiring extreme attention, either old drivers doddering or young with rear-mounted baseball caps aggressive-driving. SUV's and construction-company sized pickup trucks figure next for the reasons you observe.

But in the "normal sedan" category, Volvo drivers have earned top place of makes I avoid. Whether buy incompetence, timidity, inattention or some sense of superior entitlement, Volvo drivers seem to more often do things that endanger me or others in otherwise normal driving situations. Sorry your choice of vehicle make groups you with the rest of the Volvo lumpen, but in my long experience, the group has earned it's stripes.