traffic accidents

The 68′ Ford Pinto Case

An interesting read about the 68′ Ford Pinto and the subsequent lawsuits involving this model.

https://users.wfu.edu/palmitar/Law&Valuation/Papers/1999/Leggett-pinto.html

The Ford Pinto case is an interesting read about technological efficiency and how this impacts people’s lives. In brief: the 1968 Ford Pinto had several problems with the fuel tank and its accessories, issues that led to fatal accidents. The company has found solutions to these problems, but a cost/ benefit analysis revealed that it would cost the company $137 million to implement changes versus paying
$49.5 million to accident victims, families, or owners of damaged cars. The cost per car was 11 dollars. The cost of a lost life has been estimated at $200,725.

The lawsuits against the company sparked debates about efficiency vs ethics, allocative efficiency (how much is reasonable for a company to pay in order to being social benefits to a product), (strict) liability and standards of negligence, the ‘balancing’ method to determine liability, liability of the consumer vs liability of the producer and defective products.

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Thoughts on Morocco II – and some minuses

This post is dedicated to the less positive things in Morocco. I’ll make this part short – the negative aspects were greatly outnumbered by the positive ones – although it’s worth mentioning some of the least pleasant things:

  • traffic accidents and people that don’t seem to understand the importance of a helmet or safety belt. Those could help you, but what happens when you meet…
  • … drunk/ drugged drivers? I was surprised, to say the least, by the amount of young people with cars that drive under influence.
  • Also by the amount of people that do light drugs, by the amount of people that sell them – in Tangier people shamelessly offer hashish. From the hostel receptionist that offered me “chocolate”, to a random person on the street that pulled two packs out of his underwear – sell that, drug dealer!
  • One point for improvement would be if people would read more… buses in Morocco have no schedule, and often times I had to wait 45 minutes to one hour for a bus, time in which no-one opened a book
  • and my pet peeve – the plastic bag, which they give you plenty-of in Morocco. With a bread, with a pack of biscuits, with everything!