The difference is your 'dumb mechanic' made an unintentional mistake. These people, on the other hand, knowingly and deliberately disabled a car on a highway.

The difference is your 'dumb mechanic' made an unintentional mistake. These people, on the other hand, knowingly and deliberately disabled a car on a highway. Yes, they had a plan, but they are still running their little experiment on other unwitting drivers on the highway. I don't consider the manner in which they ran their test to be ethical; it should have been performed on a closed track.