> On Sun, 22 Aug 1999, Spike Jones wrote:
>
> > Consider the seemingly overwhelming problem of product liability...
>
> >... it is not being used for no one will insure a caravan.
>
> Robert J. Bradbury wrote: Huh? I don't believe this is the case. To the
> best of my
> knowledge, my insurance policy *does not* state that --
I could have made it clearer that I meant the *manufacturer* of caravanning technology would be held liable, not that state farm wouldnt pay the prole who hurt himself using the technology.
> ...For caravaning to *really*
> work, you would have to have a roadway that prevented non-caravaning
> enabled vehicles from getting onto it. Otherwise it is inherently unsafe.
Agreed. I propose that current carpool lanes along the previously mentioned corredor be converted to caravanning lanes. To be c-lane certified, a car must have *all* the latest and greatest tech. Again, the sillyclone valley is a perfect testbed for this, for we have thouuuuuusands of people who have more money than they know what to do with [evidence: our commically inflated real estate market, not to mention the goofy things people currently purchase on a routine basis, such our favorite Seattle product, coffee at a cost of about 4 dollars per bean]. Our current solution to 237-itis is to purchase luxury rolling stock. Since there is some immutable supernatural law of nature that *requires* us to spend hours in these conveyances, we have plush apholstery and killer stereos. My neighbor came home last month in a brand new $90K humvee.
If these particular overpaid, overworked, liesure-starved yahoos are sitting in the usual crawling mass and see, in the far left lane [divided on both sides by walls] a string of cars on each others bumpers, streaking past at 130 kph, why they would park their cars that evening for the last time in front of the dealer who had the caravan-ready cars. No questions asked. The transition could occur in a singularity-like revolution.
> It has to do with "degrees of trust".
Granted. I claim that this can be accomplished, even if it must be done gradually: caravan at a distance of 6 meters, then 5...
> So, if in fact the insurance companies do not insure such situations,
> I would argue that they are correct in such circumstances that they
> cannot guarantee the reliability of all vehicles in such an altered
> transportation environment. It would be a prescription for negative
> cash flow, if they did otherwise.
Granted again, and so I make this modest proposal. Make the early adapters club for caravanning exempt from insurance and liability. Enter that lane at your own risk. Make it so insurance companies need not pay if a maverick hurts herself caravanning, just for a technology proving period. Declare the manufacturers temporarily immune from product liability laws. Convert all the current carpooling lanes into experimental caravanning lanes. Make the caravanning mavericks an exclusive club, that offers rewards of self esteem, being pioneers, being the first to legally have sex while operating a motor vehicle, etc. It will sell here in this valley, Robert, in fact, *I* would buy one.
> Re: discussion of SF bay traffic
> --> you should consider moving to Seattle (where the situation
> might very well be worse)...
Thats what I hear. {8^D
> The problem can only be solved if you have a way of requiring
> the only vehicles in the caravanning lane are caravanning
> technology enabled.
Sounds doable to me. OK, lets do it.
> > Help us Obie Wan Gregory, you're our only hope. {8-[ spike
> >
> Great, thats just great.... I'm down in the pit dealing with
> the astronomers and the SETI trolls, barely surviving, and
> you're invoking the powers of Obie Wan Gregory to solve your...
Great reaction Robert! {8^D Love it when people respond to my jokes. On the subject of moving traffic, this evening's Simpsons episode [Hilarious! It was the Mensa send-up episode with Steven Hawking.] had the real solution. The Springfield Mensan town council found that traffic moves much faster under a yellow light than under green, so they changed out all the traffic lights to have only red and yellow. So we line the c-lane with yellow lights to accelerate the traffic to supersonic velocities. Hawking's flying wheelchair would be another great solution. {8^D spike