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Article published in Liberty, November 1997, p. 9
Two individuals well introduced in the royal courts of this world recently departed from the Pont de l'Alma tunnel for another kingdom. One of the ideas thrown into an Internet discussion group was that the fault partly lay with the absence of crash barriers in the tunnel. I thought the idea worth pursuing.
What a properly designed crash barrier apparently does is to make a crashing car bounce back on the road -- sometimes, presumably, into innocent drivers passing by. But even if personal responsibility does not bounce so much, I am willing to accept that there are good arguments for crash barriers.
Now, let's not kid ourselves: we will not stop short of anything but immortality. Rubber highways and mandated rubber cars would certainly go part of the way. (They would be manufactured out of domestic synthetic rubber, by rubber barons.) Sun visors would feature yet another warning: "Caution! This car bounces. Uncontrolled bouncing may cause injuries or death. Don't drive and bounce. It's not only a good idea, it's the law."
Liberty Magazine, © Copyright 1997, Liberty Foundation