A good healthy debate on current issues is a good thing.
I guess drivers where you're from are a LOT different than those where I am. Many people here drive aggressively and Recklessly. It's so common you get used to it. But that doesn't make it less dangerous.
80,000 hit and runs in my state last year....again...80,000.
And why are Honda Accords packed with 300HP? Hmmm.....to get groceries?
You've totally missed the horsepower wars raging in the auto industry. All to haul the kids around? I think not. Many of the cars on the road today satisfy a need for speed and power.
I do not go around "expecting" to be hit by a car. I go around realizing that there are morons operating many of them. When in public, you take the risk of robbery and a lot of things. Drones are now one of the many is all.
But let's just talk about facts. Get me current statistics for car accidents and let's compare those to drone accidents. Again, cars are more dangerous to society by a HUGE margin.
Like I said, "responsible" drone operators are AMA members or have other liability insurance.
Getting a permit to fly over crowds should be possible. There are things that can be done to mitigate the potential hazards.
I live in a metropolitan area with over a million cars on the road. Estimates are 32% are driving without insurance or valid registration...also, planes and helicopters are always flying overhead. So as long as you are breathing, you accept that something "could" fall out the sky and kill you at any time. (Showing how any argument can be sensationalized)
If you believe "drones" to be so much of a public liability....why do you own one? Are you honestly going to try to claim you have never flown yours near people, in your neighborhood or near a gathering?
I'm ALL for safety no doubt. What I oppose is hysteria and knee-jerk lawmaking.
Please don't drink and drone
Of course people, including children, are injured from many different reasons but drones are current fodder for the media and this is the first story like this. It is media GOLD!
Interesting but completely wrong.
1. I wasn't propping up any argument.
I don't rationalize away risk.
I've never understood the logic that says if doing A is dangerous, we'd better not do "B" because it is dangerous too.
They're no different than the loons who text while driving. If they don't know how dangerous it is without someone having to tell them, they will never get it on their own!!
Agreed-- but the loons driving and texting don't have the FAA breathing down their neck-- and there is no chance that any of them will have to get a license to operate their cell phone. With the FAA's authority to regulate air space, that could soon be a reality, or the ever increasing no fly zones will just get larger. The AMA has been "battling them for years" over model airplanes and if they hadn't gotten involved in active lobbying, we would be having to get license's to fly foamy rc airplanes at designated hobby airfields.
Regulation is totally out of hand and will hurt the drone hobby and drone business before all is said and done.
I've spent a good part of the past 35 years working in trauma centers and seen some pretty bizarre accidents. One thing I can tell you, the press/media very rarely have the true story of what happened. They try to gather the story from witnesses, most of whom do not want to get involved and offer no comment, or they relish the attention and embellish the story to the point it is no longer factual, or they gather the story from people who have heard it 3rd or 4th hand and added their own twist to the "facts" with each retelling. Some of the comedic stories I could tell about the press trying to get information from family or visitors at the hospital, and the disguises and tactics they've tried to use...lol.
