Tuesday, Jan 11, 2005 at 17:29
OK Mick,
first of all I don't think my reply is short of logic. In fact it follows the same logic you used. You're saying people from the city should not have a 4wd then why would people from the country would be allowed to own a normal
sedan. If they drive on some of the country tracks with a 2wd they will damaged the track for youso surely you can't allow that either! I was just being sarcastic to show you how your kind of radical
views work when you pursue them further.
Secondly, I've been off road 3 times in the last month and have only seen one potential irresponsible guy. And I say "potential" because I just assume his vehicle was geared up appropriately but I did not see him going through with it. Maybe he did pull it through without problem and I was wrong about his car or maybe he did not attempt to go further when he saw the conditions. The good point was that he was with 2 other cars who were definitely right for the task and that's why I did not stay to see if he was getting into some trouble. However I don't know if he was from the city or the country which brings me to my third point.
Thirdly, nice to see you keep a record of every encounter you had with someone who did not know how to use his 4wd and respect the tracks for the others to enjoy. Now how do you know that all of those people were from the city. Unless you asked them as far as we can tell they could have been from the country also. Let's assume you asked them and they were all from the city.
Well do you keep a record of the people from the city that you saw doing the right with their 4wd and by the environment? I would be interested in comparing the totals and then maybe I'll change my view, but in the last month I saw more than 50 vehicles and only one was potentially doing the wrong thing. Considering where I was it more than conservative to assume that at the minimum 50% were from the city. This means that potentially 1 out of 25 drivers from the city would have been irresponsible at the maximum. And that's being very conservative. It seems to be a bit far from your stats which sounds like close to 100% of the city 4wdrivers are irresponsible by looking at your post. Maybe you should think about it as
well and review your judgement.
Now I fully understand your anger and realise that it must be even more frustrating to you because it is your local area where you live that some people are damaging by being irresponsible. I too ambleepoff at a###holes who think they can do whatever wherevere they want with their 4wd without even knowing how to use it. I have seen the results and I don't like it either but generalising and saying that most of the city 4wd are like that and that they should be banned is not appropriate. And to tell you the truth I have seen some people from the bush doing dirty things more than once out there and I am not saying that all people from the bush are crazy hoons who think the bush is their playground and that they can do whatever they want in it and that they should not be allowed to drive their vehicles anymore. The fact is that there are some idiots (both in the city and the country) that spoils the fun for the rest of us (both from the city and the country) and that's a shame but unfortunately there's not much we can do about it. Let's face it I don't think your idea of banning city people from owning a 4wd will be followed by many. I believe it would be a better idea to make it compulsory to attend a 4wd course or join a 4wd club if you intend to drive off road. If you don't want to drive off-road fine you can by the 4wd but are not allowed off-road. If you want to drive it off-road then you need to show proof that you are licensed in some way to do so. Unfortunately I don't think this will take place fast. Just look at the boating rules in WA. I was very surprised when I arrived in Australia to find out that you don't require a license to drive a boat. This is the same story here: Some people do the right thing and a few are irresponsible and put the others and the environment at risk. And still the legislation remains unchanged. Maybe the car dealer should provide the 4wd course as part of the package when they sell you the car.
I hope you will see things differently now and if I ever go your way I will try to prove you that all city 4wdivers are not irresponsible.
Cheers,
Slyonnet.
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