Nowhere does the average American run into the nefarious effects of the Federal government’s intrusion into our lives more often than when we get inside our personal automobiles. Seems like only nuclear reactors are more heavily regulated, from the location of the tail lights to the materials used in the interior. Conservatives argue that intrusive, burdensome, and most of all unnecessary Federal regulation has transformed the modern automobile into a “cuckmobile”, as the alt-right would have it.
To illustrate this point, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety celebrated its 50th anniversary of producing those awesome films and videos of dummies crashing cars, by pitting a classic Detroit lead sled, a 1959 Chevy Bel Air, against its modern cuckolded counterpart, a 2009 Chevy Malibu.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_r5UJrxcck)
Common sense tells you that the proud product of good old American overengineering made manifest in several tons of steel, back in the good old days, would make mincemeat of the product of Federal overreach. And of course that’s just what the video…WTF????
Watch the video. Watch the lead slead accordion and make a mannequin-pizza of its occupant. Watch the modern monocoque-inspired car, with its strategic crumple zones, not only retain its structural integrity, watch the combination of the three-point seat belt and the airbag save the dummy’s life.
Us old folks remember the hard plastic steering wheels and the metal dashboards, the optional lap belts when there were restraints at all. I close my eyes and remember riding in one of those death traps as a kid, no seat belt, seeing the sharp edges on all the decorative sheet metal, and I shudder.
Watch the video. It’s a great reminder of the true price of government safety regulation. I’ll pay it. Gladly.