Being a huge fan of horsepower, proud owner of a “rottweiler of the road” and rottweiler (of the yard?), I felt compelled to pass this on.

In the article : Put a leash on ‘pit-bull’ cars. Drivers must know how to handle power

Paula Simmons from the Edmonton Journal writes and I quote:

And so, this Tuesday, Belzil found Richardson guilty of dangerous driving causing death. The maximum sentence is 14 years in jail. Richardson will be sentenced next Wednesday. His lawyer is already promising to file an appeal. But the crime Ricky Richardson committed didn’t begin that terrible August night when he punched the accelerator. The chain of events that led to Irene Nicholson’s death began when Richardson decided to buy a Corvette with a special super-charger that gave the already-powerful car a 500-horsepower engine. Of course, any car or truck, driven recklessly or stupidly, can kill or maim. You can run someone down with a nice little Smart Car or Prius. But a muscle car like Richardson’s super-charged Corvette is a far more dangerous vehicle to take to the road. It’s built for racing, not for navigating crowded city streets. It’s a high-performance car that demands expert handling and expert maintenance. Lose control of a such a vehicle, even for a minute, and it becomes a deadly weapon. It’s like a Rottweiler of the road: lethal in the wrong hands.

OK…now I will give her credit for stating that you could be mowed down by a Prius. I seriously doubt you’d tell anyone after you lifted it up off of you & glanced around to see if anyone was looking (I digress…), but come on… she obviously drives one of those superbly-handling, crowded city street-navigating, behemoths called minivans (which are capable of injuring pedestrians as well as the 8 people tucked inside while watching the latest Blue’s Clues video.) Then she goes on to rip on the guy’s manhood…

Maybe that car made him feel young. Maybe it made him feel virile and fleet and powerful. Maybe he just liked the special sense of community and camaraderie that came with owning a collector’s item.

That’s just low down. Now, I’m not defending the guy by any means, but…Maybe, he worked his ass off to take care of his family for the past 35+ years (”retired civil engineer“) and finally bought himself something he’s always wanted. Maybe, he likes being slammed into the back of his seat, passing minivans with some mom chatting on a cellphone with one hand, swatting her kids with the other, with the blinker still on, going slower than the speed limit in the fast lane, no less. Maybe, Corvettes are actually “street” tested before hitting “the street.”

And then…to compare the cars to pitbulls and rottweilers. Please…I’ve seen a daschund rip someone’s nostril in half. Now that’s scary. Much love to all of the “ferocious” pet owners out there that take care of their animals.

So remember Kiddies…It’s not guns, cars, knives, dogs, or bombs that kill people, it’s poor decision-making, freak accidents, acts of nature, health problems, and crystal meth that kill people.

Here we go again. fff