TTAG reader Rich Weatherby read a comment about the need for a group to counter Moms Demand Action for Common Sense Gun Control. I mean, Gun Sense in America. Anyway, it inspired him to Onion-up a letter to the editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. They posted it, revealing the fact that they “got it” with their headline: ‘If we need gun control, then we need car control, too.’ Which reminds me of the immortal line, I’ll disarm you, my pretty. And your little dog, too! Nice work Rich.
As I was driving home from work today, I saw a fender-bender on the side of the road. One car driven by a teenager, and one driven by an adult. It dawned on me how dangerous it is to let anyone get a driver’s license without a background check. Citizens under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs operate automobiles every day of the year!
I am starting a “Men Demand Action for Automobile Control” to establish common-sense automotive reforms. We are a nonpartisan grassroots movement of American fathers demanding new and stronger solutions to lax automobile laws, loopholes and policies that for too long have jeopardized the safety of our children and families.
We believe people don’t need individually owned vehicles — vehicles that caused the deaths of 32,367 people in 2011 alone. It’s time to make transportation available operated only by professional and state DOT-recognized drivers. More buses and trains, no more personally owned vehicles.
Do you realize how many teenagers are driving these heavy, hulking masses of steel every day without adult supervision? And have you driven by a school lately? Literally hundreds of these injury- and death-producing machines on school grounds, surrounding our innocent children. Don’t even get me started on high-capacity privately owned vehicles such as vans and buses. If this organization can save the life of just one child, the greater societal sacrifice will be worth it.
Rich Weatherby • Dardenne Prairie