2001connections-article0003 Just about all vehicles on wheels need brakes.

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2001connections-article0003
Just about all vehicles on wheels need brakes.

Practically every transport apparatus on wheels should be equipped with a device to bring the object to a complete halt. Whether the conveyance be intended for carrying passengers, cargo or any content whatsoever. What a redundant statement, you may be thinking right now. Because such a requirement seems obvious. But check it out. Shopping carts generally do not have any form of manually-activated stopping mechanism. Why not? Brakes could be useful for halting this small vehicle in an emergency, to prevent or at least mitigate accidents. Sure, some have an automatic wheel blocking mechanism which was installed to prevent you, the customer, from taking the cart out of the parking lot of the store or shopping centre. But this feature originated to benefit the retailer more than the consumer.
I cannot help but wonder. If installing wheel blockers in this manner has proven feasible, why not add a modified version, normal brakes, which would indeed benefit the consumer? Runaway shopping carts on inclined lots, windy areas and so on, could be relegated to history, for the most part. Along with accidents, property damage, injuries caused by runaway shopping carts. All these hazards could be greatly reduced or maybe even eliminated.

Note that the majority of motorized vehicles, most significantly automobiles, do indeed have brakes, as far as I can tell. No doubt, the presence of such a useful safety feature stems primarily from regulatory requirements. Seriously, vehicle safety legislation should extend much further, to include a variety of non-motorized conveyance. At the time of last editing of this article, August 2007, drivers of cars are able to make a panic stop, if needed, in a parking lot or elsewhere, to avoid collision with other vehicles, for example. But far too often or even routinely, a non-motorized conveyance rolling inadvertently towards an automobile is helplessly unable to stop, whether on its own or with the help of the operator of that second, smaller vehicle. This situation is deplorable and intolerable, in my humble, subjective opinion.
I consider it almost a miracle that a rash of lawsuits has not yet unfolded against stores which fail to equip their shopping carts with brakes. Since the time of first writing this article, 2007-01-04, I predict that 1 or more serious accidents and the resulting litigation will indeed trigger a rash of lawsuits of a similar type, under similar conditions. Time will tell whether my prediction was correct.

End of
2001connections-article0003
Just about all vehicles on wheels need brakes.

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