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I think there is an element of what a "reasonable" person could be expected to evaluate properly. The majority of the public (at least in the US) of a legal dr
by brk 11y ago
I think there is an element of what a "reasonable" person could be expected to evaluate properly.
The majority of the public (at least in the US) of a legal driving age possess a drivers license. Even persons without a drivers license are generally familiar enough with cars/vehicles to make a baseline assumption about the safety of the vehicle and/or driver. I'm not saying you can 100% accurately judge this, but that overall most people can make an informed decision about the risk they are undertaking with a ride-sharing service like Uber.
Conversely, most people do not have pilots licenses, familiarity with small aircraft, or an ability to properly judge safe vs. unsafe conditions. Couple that with the fact that you are dealing with a method of travel that succeeds only if it can defy gravity without incident for the duration of the trip, and you have (IMO) a much much higher risk than with something like Uber.
- lmm 11y ago> The majority of the public (at least in the US) of a legal driving age possess a drivers license. Even persons without a drivers license are generally familiar enough with cars/vehicles to make a baseline assumption about the safety of the vehicle and/or driver. I'm not saying you can 100% accurately judge this, but that overall most people can make an informed decision about the risk they are undertaking with a ride-sharing service like Uber. And yet people worry a lot about things that are much less dangerous than driving or getting a lift. I don't know how you're defining "informed", but the decisions people make about driving certainly aren't reasonable or rational in an objective sense.
- untog 11y agoSure. But I don't think the fact that people are prone to making irrational choices means we should open up opportunities for them to make more of those choices, in potentially deadly situations.
- lmm 11y agoIf the licensing for a safer activity is much stricter than the licensing for a more dangerous activity then we're clearly doing something wrong.
- VLM 11y agoThe problem with the drivers license analogy is a startup "uber for bus" for example really would need a CDL with passenger endorsements, not just the standard drivers license. The legal logic explaining taxis not needing state licenses vs bus and transit vans needing CDL with endorsements is strictly vehicle weight based. This is essentially the uber loophole. Although state DOT logic would imply "uber general aviation" would be OK, the FAA has never felt the need to obey state DOT logic, which overall is probably good.