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Comment by adam12 | Hacker News Reader

> great marketing for Tesla

Yeah, until someone dies from this sort of reckless driving.

I don't think Telsa providing a given feature set makes them responsible for the misuse of it.

Of course it doesn't make them responsible. I just don't think someone should be driving like that unless they are on a test track.

No different from guns. It's about how and who is using them, not the guns.

I've owned one or another fire-breathing twin-turbocharged performance cars most of my life. I have never caused an accident. In fact, to echo what someone else said, some of the most dangerous situations I find myself in with alarming frequency is getting on the 5 fwy right behind someone who merges onto the freeway at 45 mph with semi-trucks buzzing by and refuses to push down on the accelerator. I couldn't even count the number of times I've seen, played out right in front of me, all the makings of a horrific accident because of a slow driver. Good fast drivers are more aware (they have to be) and just get out of the way. Slow drivers are dangerous.

That said, if these people were doing this on surface streets they are dangerous morons. It's no different from someone shooting a gun up in the air.

I would agree that while driving faster is inherently more dangerous by it's nature, the small increase in danger in that case is vastly less dangerous than driving without awareness of your surroundings, or driving without awareness of consequences even if you are aware of your surroundings (I'm talking about you, puddle-jumpers and people that switch lanes with less than a few feet between their bumpers and the people around them).

Dunno about the US, but here in the UK, if someone were to die in a car equipped with a button labeled "insane", for our tabloid press, that button would be the main focus and the car manufacturer would be hauled over the coals based on that alone. It would be sold to readers that having such a button encouraged insanity on the roads, and the manufacturer would be claimed to be irresponsible for having such a button. Oh, that would be true, even if the manufacturer could prove that the button was never used.

> ...[F]or our tabloid press, that button would be the main focus and the car manufacturer would be hauled over the coals based on that alone.

When did tabloids change from the place where you went to get the latest scoop on The Amazing Bat Boy to publications that folks actually paid attention to?

Similarly, should manufacturers design their products to be inoffensive to every bloviating, prevaricating alarmist with a blog? I don't think so. That's an unreasonable tax on both innovation and sound design. :)

> the latest scoop on The Amazing Bat Boy

Hmmm aside from the Sunday Sport the UK hasn't really ever had that sort of relationship with tabloids. Celebrity news though? Yeah.

> Yeah, until someone dies from this sort of reckless driving.

If you're on a 55 mph road, is it reckless to accelerate quickly to 55 mph?

> If you're on a 55 mph road, is it reckless to accelerate quickly to 55 mph?

I could be considered reckless in the right circumstances. There are other people to consider.

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