Light Trucks
America is being overrun by an army of nannies preaching safety, health, sobriety and fitness at any cost. Now Sens. Ernest Hollings and John Danforth, in “Light Trucks Ought to Be Made as Safe as They Are Popular” (Op-Ed Page, June 22), want to apply passenger car safety standards to light trucks.
Many people buy those vehicles precisely because they don’t have the reinforced bodies and protective devices that add hundreds of dollars to car prices. These standards will force a youngster saving for a new car to brave traffic with an old jalopy or a motorcycle for six more months.
Hollings and Danforth want us to believe life’s only purpose is to prolong itself. This sterile ethic has created an epidemic of stifled human spirits, destroying our people’s creativity and productivity and leaving drugs as their last challenge.
The dynamics of risk are essential to a satisfying life and a vibrant culture.
Some people risk death in revolution to build their nation’s future. Others risk death in light trucks to build their own future with a reliable, economical way to get to work. They must be left free to choose that risk.
GENE FELLNER
South Pasadena
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