Less Freedom In The Name Of Safety

Americans are generally used to being responsible for their own actions. If you choose to smoke, you may have heath problems. If you engage in certain sports, you risk injuries. If you buy a house, you are responsible for keeping it in good repair. Generally speaking, we understand that actions have consequences. Sometimes in our litigious society, you can sue people for your own stupidity, but that is the exception rather than the rule. California has now decided that they will control one more aspect of your freedom.

On Thursday, The Hill reported the following:

California could become the first state to require certain new cars to be equipped with a device capable of limiting speed, if legislation proposed this week ultimately becomes law.

San Francisco-based state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) introduced a bill mandating many new vehicles — beginning with the 2027 model year — contain a so-called “intelligent speed limiter.”

This device would restrict the speed of the car to 10 mph above the speed limit — with specific exceptions as indicated by the bill. Emergency vehicles, for example, would be exempt, and the California Highway Patrol could authorize the system’s disabling in certain other cases.

…The National Transportation Safety Board, Wiener’s office stressed, has repeatedly recommended the installation of such technologies in all new passenger vehicles. These devices will also be required in all cars sold in the European Union beginning this July.

“Preventing reckless speeding is a commonsense approach to prevent these utterly needless and heartbreaking crashes,” Wiener said.

In addition to its focus on intelligent speed limiters, S.B. 961 would also require the installation of side guards on trucks and trailers. Such guards, according to Wiener’s office, could help “reduce the risk of cars and bikes being pulled underneath the truck during a crash.”

This equipment — which would be installed on every truck or trailer that weighs more than 10,000 pounds — would need to be able to provide crash protection for a midsize car at any angle and any speed up to 40 mph, per the bill.

A variation of this has already been introduced in America with some insurance companies offering you a discount if you allow them to put a device in your car that tracks your speed and driving. I don’t endorse speeding, but I believe this is just too intrusive. I would also note that there are many roads in California where the traffic is so bad that being able to go the speed limit would be a blessing.

How It Happened

On Thursday, The Daily Wire posted an article detailing the actual cause of the train wreck that has created the ecological disaster in Ohio. After reading the article, I am not sure what could have been done to prevent the accident or what needs to be done in the future to prevent another accident like this.

This article reports:

The catastrophic February 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was caused by an overheated wheel bearing on the 23rd of 149 rail cars, according to a preliminary report issued Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The Norfolk Southern Railway train derailment led to a decision to burn more than a hundred thousand gallons of highly toxic chemicals, leading to concerns the air and water in and around the town of 4,700 could be badly contaminated. While it was already believed the wreck was caused by a malfunctioning wheel, the NTSB report revealed new details.

…The tracks are equipped with “hot bearing detectors” that assess the temperature conditions of wheel bearings on passing trains, alerting crews if wheel bearings exceed 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The train that derailed passed three sensors before it derailed, with the doomed wheel bearing first registering 38 degrees above ambient temperatures, then 103 degrees, and finally 253 degrees above ambient temperatures, the report stated.

The sensor system transmitted a critical audible alarm message directing the crew to slow and stop the train. The engineer did so, but ​once the train stopped the crew saw fire and smoke from derailed cars and notified the Cleveland East dispatcher of a possible derailment.

By February 5, chemical fires sparked by the tanker cars colliding during the derailment were under control, according to the report. But with five cars carrying 115,580 gallons of highly volatile vinyl chloride on the derailed train, and the temperature rising in at least one of them, the decision was made to execute a “controlled burn” of the chemicals, sending a black, toxic plume into the skies above East Palestine.

The people in East Palestine need our prayers. I can’t imagine living in a place where breathing the air hurts.

Hmmm

Below is the trailer from a documentary about Flight 800 that will be released next month. I am posting the video along with a few personal stories regarding Flight 800. I am not drawing a conclusion –I am just telling a few anecdotal stories that I am personally familiar with.

 

The following stories have been told to me directly by people I trust. All three stories deal with odd events surrounding the loss of Flight 800.

1,  The night the plane went down was a beautiful night. A south shore Long Island resident was outside filming with his video camera when he noticed a streak of light climbing upward in the sky. He turned his camera on that streak and recorded a large flash of light. He later called the FBI, telling them he had the videotape and offering his services as a witness. The FBI paid him a visit, took his videotape, and never called him as a witness. The video tape was never returned.

2. The night the airplane went down, fire stations on the south shore of Long Island were turned away when they arrived to help with the search and rescue effort.

3. Someone I know was working on a project in the old Grumman aircraft building. The building was the place where the wreckage of Flight 800 was reassembled to determine the cause of the explosion of the plane. The security was such that this person was accompanied by security during routine trips to the restroom. On one of these trips, a college classmate was encountered. Evidently the classmate was there also working on a project. After the encounter, the person I know was questioned extensively on the details of the friendship and what was discussed.

None of these stories actually prove anything. All may be easily explained–in the first story the FBI may have believed that they already had all the witnesses they needed to determine the cause of the crash and simply forgot to return the video, in the second story, the people who were first on the scene may have realized that there would be no survivors and felt there was no need for additional search and rescue workers, and in the third story, the government was simply making sure no one was tampering with the evidence in any way that would have hindered the investigation into the loss of the plane.

Again, I have ventured into an area that I know little about. I am simply sharing three stories told to me by people I know. These stories cause me to wonder what really happened the night Flight 800 went down. I have no answers, just more questions.

 

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