On Fri, Apr 01, 2005 at 01:58:07PM -0800, David Barak wrote: > --- "Jay R. Ashworth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Actually, and I think the distinction is pertinent to this > > discussion, if the car has no seatbelts, you can drive it just fine > > -- as long as it came that way. You can't *sell* a car without > > seatbelts, anymore. > > That may be the rule in Florida, but in DC, MD, and UT (the states in > which I've lived in the past 2 decades), you can be be ticketed if you > are driving a car and not wearing a seatbelt.
I'd have to check, but I believe the exemption for cars not originally equipped in in the Federal Uniform Model Traffic Statues, which I think the majority of states have adopted, at least in substantial part, though IANAL. Nope: Maryland makes the exception: http://mlis.state.md.us/cgi-win/web_statutes.exe?gtr&22-412.3 If it wasn't manufactured with belts, you're not required to install them, but if they're there, you do have to wear them. I rather suspect the other jursidictions are similar. > To make this a little bit more relevant to our VoIP/911 discussion, > would we allow a startup car company to sell something which looked > like a seatbelt, but was not crash rated above 5 mph? No, of course we > wouldn't. Would that be anticompetitive? No, it just means that to be > a startup car company, you have to meet the same safety standards as > the existing car companies. Indeed. > If we want to take the analogy away from something which is a direct > safety issue, the exact same argument applies to emissions standards. > They're "standard" for a reason: they apply to everyone, and every car > maker must comply. (SUVs are classified as trucks, and comply with the > truck rules). Actually, I believe most SUV's are *not* classified as light trucks, with the exceptions of the Excursion and Hummer. > Why would these arguments not apply to VoIP? At this point, of course, I've lost track of what the argument is, in the delightful littls side trips. :-) <pinch> Cheers, -- jra -- Jay R. Ashworth [EMAIL PROTECTED] Designer Baylink RFC 2100 Ashworth & Associates The Things I Think '87 e24 St Petersburg FL USA http://baylink.pitas.com +1 727 647 1274 If you can read this... thank a system administrator. Or two. --me
