Well, mx_tifosi, I don't want to go out of thread, you're right in that it's people responsability, true, but that's applicable to anything. Would you say the same of, I don't know, any other product that can be misused by the user? Anyway, I won't argue about legal responsability, it won't take us far.
Please, think about it this way, even if only for a minute:
What about a computer that explodes when the user press Ctrl-Alt-1, for example? Even if clearly labeled ("Warning! Do not press Ctrl-Alt-1!"), I ask myself: is
that truly good engineering? Specially when it kills more people than firearms, as is the case of cars. I know that in the US that kind of computer would be the delight of class-action lawyers, and, certainly, not the one most sold.
It seems simpler to manufacture a car that does not start when its driver is drunk than, I don't know, a car with active suspension. Same goes for the speed limit compared with the gadgets invented to go
over the speed limit.
For example, most countries (at least mine) have a system for recording speeds of commercial vehicles, mandatory. Last time I checked, commercial vehicles had far smaller accident rates than teenagers.
The root of the problem is that people like to overspeed and to drink. Sure we can make cars that deny you those "pleasures" on public roads. I bet that manufacturers think that if they take away that component from the cars, then their sales would go down.
When you become "less young", some people, like me, end with the idea that
a car, for some teenagers, more than transportation, is a way to party and race with friends. Where do I get those crazy ideas?
I dare to think that automakers have a similar idea, because the shapes and speeds of those cars, oriented toward a younger audience, seem to go along with it, since immemorial times. I'll sum it up like this: "impress the chicks and overtake your friends". If they are aware of that, then they have some share in the responsability for the deaths that are happening right this minute.
That, or they're stupid guys that think that they contribute more to the world by making a seat with 120 positions than a car that checks your alcohol level in a tamper proof way. Both things are perfectly doable. Of course, if I had 18 years agan, I would go with the 120 positions seat...
Now, at 48, if I could buy one of these "no alcohol sensor" cars for my daughter, I would be happy.
Sigh, rereading what I wrote, I think that anyway you're right: I have become "The Man"...
(Germany?) but after all, Ciro is right, a 1 Liter car reaches 150kph, way beyond the 130kph limit in the feeway here, so why do we have 3.0L V6 that reaches 240kph?
)
