Chronicling the high cost of our legal system
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That’s something Congress should remember, notes the Economist, before it passes more laws named after victims, such as the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act of 2008, under which the Department of Transportation is in the process of mandating rear cameras on cars so as to reduce back-over accidents in family driveways.
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Lenore Skenazy: “As for cribs, one reason the drop-side models seem so ‘dangerous’ is because they are so popular. When you have millions of people using anything, no matter how safe, the odds of an accident go up because the odds go up with the numbers. … These products are not deadly. There’s a difference between a deadly product (cyanide) and a product that sometimes results in death (a grape). We keep obscuring that difference, and congratulating the folks who act as if it is only a lack of vigilance that allows anyone to die of anything other than old age.” More: Nick Farr, Abnormal Use; Rick Woldenberg.
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Thus bringing us closer to a society where few people grow up knowing how to operate tools and machinery. [John Ratzenberger, Washington Times] (& welcome Amy Alkon readers.)
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Lawyers “argued that Pizza Hut was responsible for the collision because they hired [deliverer Nicole] Fisk, who had a driver’s license for only three months and had a history of suffering blackout spells and staring episodes.” Pizza Hut countered (unsuccessfully) that Fisk’s epilepsy was diagnosed only after the crash, which seriously injured a mother and daughter in another vehicle. [San Diego Union-Tribune via Lipman, Legal Blog Watch] And yes, it does call to mind the case I wrote about more than a decade ago:
You may think I’m making this up unless I offer a verbatim quote, so here’s exactly what the Washington Post reported in a front-page story on April 8 [1997]: “In January, a former truck driver for Ryder Systems, Inc., won a $ 5.5-million jury verdict after claiming, under the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act], that Ryder unfairly removed him from his position after he suffered an epileptic seizure, saying his health condition could be a safety hazard. During the time he was blocked from his job at Ryder, the driver was hired by another firm, had a seizure behind the wheel and crashed into a tree. Ryder is appealing the verdict.”
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It seems the concern is “to prevent ‘heavy and wet’ clothing from falling onto people below.” An earlier letter to housing tenants complaining of the clotheslines as an “eyesore” went ignored, so there are suspicions the Croydon council is pursuing its beautification goals by other means. [Telegraph, link now dead; Croydon Today]
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Fairfax County, Virginia prosecutors had charged two bartenders at Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern in Herndon over the trick, which (the report suggests) resulted in no mishap or injuries and which the tavern owner said they had done hundreds of times previously. They still face misdemeanor charges. [Fairfax Times] Scott Greenfield discusses the case (with a mention of yours truly) and proposes a “bartender flambé” rule for knowing when the bubble-ization of everyday life has gone too far.
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Coyote offers a behind-the-scenes look at the safety-related closure of a California federal park to camping over the vacationer-heavy July 4 holiday.
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“If the event was held in America the bull would be in the back of a pickup truck going five miles an hour, and all the runners would have to wear helmets. The bull would wear a helmet.” [Ricochet.com]
Truck Accident That Killed Rafters in Canyon Sparks Truck-Canyon-Rafter Reform Debate
You mean this is just satire? It seems so much like an actual network report.
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…and give the poor lady a cookie [Lenore Skenazy via Amy Alkon]
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Finger-wagging from a New York Times interviewer [via Matt Welch, Reason "Hit and Run"]
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The Consumer Product Safety Commission considers them a hazardous product [Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range Kids]
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It’s seen as too risky [Daily Mail, UK] Local authorities will try to bring the event back next year; we covered an earlier suspension in 2003.
P.S. Commenter Peter Eipers: “They can’t handle crowd control for a cheese race, and they are about to host the Olympics?” More: Zincavage.
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And then repeat x10,000 [Jeremy Clarkson, Times Online (U.K.) via Free-Range Kids]
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Lenore Skenazy (Free-Range Kids) in the Washington Post on the urge to protect children from hot dogs and countless other statistically rare dangers. Quotes me on the litigation that led to the warning labels [Washington Post]
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It seems the American Academy of Pediatrics wants just about every non-pureed food you can think of — carrots, apples, hot dogs — to carry a warning label about the risk of choking to children. “Some say other risky foods, including hard candies, popcorn, peanuts and marshmallows, shouldn’t be given to young children at all.” [AP; Free-Range Kids] More from Patrick at Popehat: “What Are Your Child’s Odds Of Choking To Death On A Hot Dog?”
And: For better child safety, think like an economist, says Steven Horwitz: don’t let worst-case scenarios rule your thinking and recognize that every good comes with tradeoffs [Free-Range Kids]
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“How the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition, with deadly consequences.” [Blum/Slate] A little while back I did an article for Reason on the surprisingly frequent role government has played in promoting and furthering products that pose a risk to life and limb.
P.S. It’s still going on, though with a lower toll: ethanol sold for nondrinking use is “denatured” and made poisonous by law (h/t James Fulford in comments, Alex Tabarrok)
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Individual liberty, free markets, and peace: the world's premier libertarian think tank. Publishes Cato at Liberty, where I blog on contemporary policy issues.
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