[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by glatt

Why are you so opposed to outside regulation of dangerous products?

Because you and I disagree on what "dangerous" is.

Originally Posted by glatt

Do you wish we still lived in a world where industrial machinery had no guards?

I've certainly seen OSHA-mandated crapola that was excessive and/or counterproductive. And that added unnecessarily to cost, actively interfered with real safety; that had severe unintended consequences.

Beleve it or not, there was concern for and action to maintain safety before there was an OSHA or a CPSC. Or one million lawyers.

Originally Posted by glatt

Where certain death awaited you if you got in a car crash?

That's incredible hyperbole.

I do think that some people need to drive cars that they beleive aren't quite as safe as they believe today, because they're driving like retards. Usually in a SUV with a cellphone growing out of one ear. Too often I've seen people who bought a SUV or a Jeep or a minivan or a light truck "because it's safer" do something boneheaded when confronted with hazardous driving conditions, likely because they were leaning a bit too heavliy on that regulatory "safety net".

I drive a Saturn today, in part because it's very crashworthy (but also economical and reliable), but obviously that crashworthness isn't all the result of regulation, or *all* cars subject to that regulation would be just as safe as a Saturn. Volvo has used crash safety as a selling point for as long as I can remeber; certainly long before there were FMVSS.

Tell me. Do you think these kite tubes are safe?

What does "safe" mean?

Clearly they are not without risk. They're probably safer than cigarettes or lawn darts. They're probably not as safe as candy cigarettes or sitting in a lawn chair. Unless you do it for 15 years in the desert without sunscreen.

If by "safe" you mean "not so inevitatably hazardous that some government clown should prevent them from being sold", then yes, they're "safe".

Would you ride one...

I might. I'm probably too heavy for one, and I doubt I'm really athletic enough at my age. I do fly airplanes without worrying excessively about them, and that's more because I have faith in my own skill and judgement (after nearly thirty years as a pilot and about 400 hours) than in the intensive regulation that certificated aircraft get.

And it's exactly that kind of judgement that might keep me out of a tube kite, and yet might *not* keep me out of an ultralight aircraft or a sailplane, which is not all that damed different.

What I would *not* do is buy or build an ultralight, ignore the designers/manufacturers instructions, fly it into the ground and then whine that the manufacturer and the government should have protected me from my own stupidity by prohibiting the sale in the first place.

...or let a loved one ride one?

Absolutely I would. My kids didn't get to be smart and strong because I coddled or hovered. I'd encourage them to take it slow and use care. And read and follow the goddamed instructions.