Originally Posted by
hsmall
Originally Posted by
dark_horse
If we'd all been a bit calmer earlier on I suspect we could have agreed that either the law should be changed, or it should be enforced, because the present situation is undesirable.
Yes, I disagree. The choice for the individual is to obey or not to obey. The choice for the authorities is to enforce or not to enforce.
For the individual
I consider turning on a blackberry after the plane has turned off the runway to be much the same as driving at 40mph on a dry well lit 30 mph limited road with no one in sight...
[dark_horse's emphasis]
Things moved on a bit after my post, but it looks like you got your answer later on:
Originally Posted by
Globaliser
The nonchalance with which most of us board our flights has been made possible by exactly this process of identifying and eliminating "minute and sometimes theoretical risks".
And this is why it's so worrying that so many people who don't know how aviation safety works feel that they are able confidently to pronounce that they're free to disagree with the regulator, and indeed that the regulator doesn't know what it's talking about.
I would only add that I feel that individual choice is irrelevant here. I don't feel your opinion, my opinion or any other common-or-garden pax's opinion has very much to offer
in the context of deliberately ignoring the rules (as distinct from getting them changed, which is a whole other matter).
I do feel it rather disturbing, however, the suggestion offered by a few on these threads - especially last week - that personal choice and individual freedom might trump collective responsibility.
Originally Posted by
hsmall
Originally Posted by
dark_horse
"It's not dangerous," they say. "So calm down".
The problem is the arrogance inherent in that statement.
I don't mean to be rude to you but I ask you to consider there whether the arrogance goes two ways.
But how might following the law be arrogant? I might perhaps be accused of finding myself atop some particularly tall equine, but surely otherwise I'm more comparable to your German friends waiting at a green light, irrespective of traffic? And, at least, in that situation if they were incapable of judging traffic and tried to cross anyway, they'd probably come off the worst.
The bottom line is that no-one needs to justify following safety regulations.