an ode to speed

follow the ball bearing.... as it winds it way down

insurance companies lobby for stoopidly slow speed limits
and in regions with a statistically low amount of tickets
they provide free speed detection devices to police departments
so they can raise your rates for these infractions

safety is hard to quantify and prosecute
but speed infractions are easily quantifiable and prosecutable
police performance is measured via # of tickets
speeding tickets become a revenue maker for municipalities

so speed becomes a proxy for safety
and the largest revenue maker there is
driving gets dumbed down, people stop paying attention
a culture of minimal situational awareness is the norm

cars dont need to go faster than 75 mph (120 kph)
so the requirements for engineering are reduced
car makers dont need to make well designed cars
so the cars dont last, and dont drive well either

and like a tall lanky kid in middle school
trying on a new persona each week
american car manufacturers still dont have a identity
compare this to saab, volvo, audi, bwm, porsche...

you can put money into the system
you can raise the blood pressure temporarily
you can try to stop the hemorrhaging
but the ball bearing will always find its way down

want to change the landscape?
become competitive in the world?
build the best vehicles ever?
then we need to change our system

disassociate insurance from lobbying
disassociate insurance from police
disassociate speed citations from revenue
disassociate speed from safety

and support both goals of transportation: speed and safety.

america caters to the lowest common denominator
then we build cars every bit our equal...
but a nation of cowboys isn't founded on the LCD
its high time we celebrate our diversity.



*update:
best case, based on the american taxpayer buying the big three
we will build the crappiest alternative energy cars in the world