On 12/05/2014 03:28, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
On Mon, 12 May 2014 01:27:17 +0100, Mark Lawrence wrote:
On 12/05/2014 00:51, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
Cars are standardized -- there are basically two types, manuals and
automatics.
Sadly they can still go wrong due to modern engineering practices. In
my neck of the woods some years ago people were killed when standing at
a bus stop, because the car driver was desperately pressing down on the
automatic's brake
Perhaps (s)he should have steered the car away from the people. Or I
suppose the steering wheel failed as well?
The entire vehicle was perfectly sound after the event, including the
brake and accelerator controls. It was only during the accident that
the interference played havoc. Pure coincidence of course.
but EMI overrode the engine controls
EMI? The record company? Wow, I knew they were evil, but I didn't realise
they were *that* evil.
Ho, ho, ho :)
and the car
simply went faster. At least that is what the defence claimed at the
trial. With no expert on the prosecution to refute the claim "not
guilty" was the verdict.
Sounds like the prosecution were just going through the motions. They
should have either had an expert able to refute the claim, or not
prosecuted in the first place.
Can't do that if you don't know in advance what the defence is :(
Personally, I'm rather skeptical about claims of "I kept pushing the
brake but the car just accelerated". There is a long and inglorious
history of people stepping on the wrong pedal when in a panic, or drunk,
or distracted. I've even done it myself. (I expect *every* driver
has, at some point.) And a not-quite-as-long but even more inglorious
history of lawyers inventing nonsense links between the brake pedal and
the accelerator in order to extort money from car manufacturers. E.g. see
"Galileo's Revenge" by Peter W Huber and the case of the mythical, but
amazingly profitable for the lawyers involved, Audi Sudden Acceleration
Syndrome.
For me personally, perhaps the most despicable part of the whole sordid
story was the case of Wende Gatts, who ran over Darlene Norris, causing
$300,000 in damages. Not only did she got off scot-free, thanks to the
junk science invented by her "expert witness", but actual victim Norris
was ordered to pay Gatts' legal fees of $64K.
Of course, that was in the late 1980s, when even luxury cars still had
mechanical linkage between the user and the brakes. These days, when
nearly everything in the car is computer controlled, I wouldn't be
*quite* so skeptical. Nevertheless, chances are almost certain that by
far the majority of unexpected acceleration cases are PEBCAP errors.
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/its-all-your-fault-the-dot-renders-its-verdict-on-toyotas-unintended-acceleration-scare-feature
http://www.caranddriver.com/news/toyota-recall-scandal-media-circus-and-stupid-drivers-editorial
I hadn't heard about ASAS, another to add to my list of syndromes :)
--
My fellow Pythonistas, ask not what our language can do for you, ask
what you can do for our language.
Mark Lawrence
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