No Guardrails at Tennessee Race Accident Site

“It ain’t really safe to do anything with drag cars on a city street,”
Ok, couple things here. If people knew it wasn’t safe (and anyone with half a brain would know this), why were they there? Why take your kids to an event where safety is an issue? There had to be permits involved. Why were permits issued when it was clear there would be a safety issue?

SELMER, Tenn., June 17 — There were no guardrails between spectators and a highway where a drag-racing car bolted out of control, killing six people during a charity event.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol declined to make a statement Sunday about road conditions or safety procedures during the parade of cars Saturday evening.

“It ain’t really safe to do anything with drag cars on a city street,” said spectator Garett Moore, 19, who said he was about 15 feet away from the wreck but was uninjured. “They shouldn’t have done it.”

Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Mike Browning said the dead included two 15-year-old girls and a 17-year-old girl. The accident injured 18 others, who were taken to hospitals in Tennessee and Mississippi.

More at the Washington Post

Another installment of People Against Stupid Shit……and isn’t this a fitting one! H/T to G for this Stupid Shit story! I see many things wrong with this…but the most obvious is that it’s not handicap accessible or elderly accessible, as the escape hatch in the ceiling would do them no good. And if they took too long to “go” the authorities would be called.

From the Sun Sentinel:

FORT LAUDERDALE — It speaks kindly to you, it soothes you with music, it cleans up after you.

It’s not your mother. It’s a restroom.

The automated public toilet that Fort Lauderdale plans to try out at the beach does the job of a whole crew of employees, but doesn’t need health insurance. It locks up at night, and opens for your business in the morning.

It knows when you’re inside. And if you’re not moving, it worries that you might have fallen over dead. So it flings the door open and a siren screams.

It welcomes you when you walk in, and talks you through the experience, with soothing music adding to the ambience.

City commissioners voted Tuesday to pay $25,259 to an engineering firm to design the site and deal with state permits for a structure so close to the ocean. Only Vice Mayor Carlton Moore voted no.

Fort Lauderdale can expect to spend $250,000 to $350,000 for the robotic restroom with one commode, plus about $30,000 a year to service and maintain it. The city hasn’t selected a manufacturer and will put out a request for bids. The commission then must vote to buy the restroom.

It’s a little bit bossy. The robo-john gives you a prescribed number of toilet paper squares. Government officials will decide how many squares you get to start with, although if you insist, you can get more.

It’s impatient, too. Don’t dilly-dally. The automated public restroom’s door flies open after a set number of minutes. Again, the timing isn’t up to you; that’s a call your elected city commissioners will make. But it warns you, first: “You have exceeded your time limit. Please leave immediately.”

If you refuse, it sounds an alarm and calls the authorities.

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