Safety issues

Paul Valente

Automotive Engineer
My brother is really into shooting sporting-clays and he took with him one time. I never shot a gun in my life so he went over the safety basics of handling a shotgun with me and one of the things he told me was that no one ever gets defensive about, or rolls their eyes about, or in general cops an attitude about safety so that people aren't discouraged from pointing things out.
It occurs to me that perhaps that would be good etiquette on this forum as well. It could save someone's life. Like if someone points out, "Hey, I don't know if it is a good idea to mount the seat belt to a fuel line" that shouldn't be met with a bunch of attitude whether you plan on heeding the advice or not. No one likes their car picked-apart so tact would be in order, of course.
I guess one could argue it is covered under Wheaton's Law, but I think this is merits an addendum to it.
 
I have just seen a few post recently where someone points out a potential issue an the OP gets an attitude about it. I don't want to name names.
 
My brother is really into shooting sporting-clays and he took with him one time. I never shot a gun in my life so he went over the safety basics of handling a shotgun with me and one of the things he told me was that no one ever gets defensive about, or rolls their eyes about, or in general cops an attitude about safety so that people aren't discouraged from pointing things out.
It occurs to me that perhaps that would be good etiquette on this forum as well. It could save someone's life. Like if someone points out, "Hey, I don't know if it is a good idea to mount the seat belt to a fuel line" that shouldn't be met with a bunch of attitude whether you plan on heeding the advice or not. No one likes their car picked-apart so tact would be in order, of course.
I guess one could argue it is covered under Wheaton's Law, but I think this is merits an addendum to it.


All true about real life safety points and rigidly observed rules at all good ranges. Firearm forums are another story and experience flame wars and manhood questioning over the craziest things. I think it is an innerwebz thing. Having said that, I do prefer civility on Xweb.
 
This is a good point, and brings up thoughts I have on related matters.

I tend to look at my own work VERY critically. As a OCD perfectionist I am really hard on myself that way. And I will freely admit that I may invoke the same habit to everything I see around me. Therefore I might unintentionally come off sounding judgmental or critical to the work of others. To me the intent is to be constructive, however it might not always sound that way to the other person. It is something I try to work at improving, but I still find it happening...as I said, unintentionally.

Similarly my sense of humor is not always shared by everyone. It can also sound sarcastic if misread as other than humor. That is another area I work at improving. But with forums being a written format, with no face-to-face contact (and therefore no non-verbal communication) things can easily be misconstrued. As Jim says, these sort of things tend to happen on internet media.

In my case there is never any harmful or otherwise purposefully negative intent. I spent my career helping others to live better lives and hope to continue to do so for my remaining years, in any way I can. So I'll take this opportunity to publicly apologize if I've offended anyone or otherwise caused any ill feelings. If at any point this happens, please feel free to call me out on it...publicly or privately does not matter so long as it gets cleared up.

Thanks to all of our members for making Xweb a truly enjoyable forum, far better than other any I've encountered.
 
The basic issue is text online is largely tonedeaf. One writer's sarcasm, hyperbole or joky jab is taken literally and not enough people use emoticons or the text equivalent "j/k" which means just kidding. o_O;):eek:
 
I am famous for stepping on tows when it comes to safety (Mis-spelled intentionally) My other traid is operating a tow truck and I am known as the safety chain police.

If I do offend someone please know My goal is NOT to offend. But when I see something I perceive as unsafe I just can't keep my big mouth shut. Not too sure I want to change that habit. But I am trying to learn the tack part better!
 
Well, we don't want to talk too much about safety here or we could shut down this place because we all drive tiny, low slung cars with questionable brakes an less hp than a riding mower.

This was a totally sarcastic remark above and we all know it has no bearing on reality. Sorry, been spending too much time watching MSNBC and it's dulling my brain.... I need a Moto GP fix.
 
This is a good point, and brings up thoughts I have on related matters.

I tend to look at my own work VERY critically. As a OCD perfectionist I am really hard on myself that way.

As an OCD perfectionist you must experience a lot of frustration working on a car like the X1/9. ;)

And getting back to safety, everyone has a different "safety threshold", based on age, experience, and common sense. People comment on how small and potentially unsafe the X is, but I have ridden motorcycles and still put a lot of mileage on my bicycle, so the X seems safe in comparison. I think MG used to have the slogan "Safety Fast", meaning a car that performs well is inherently safer than one that doesn't; avoiding a collision is preferable to being surrounded by expanses of metal while and being in a collision.
 
As an OCD perfectionist you must experience a lot of frustration working on a car like the X1/9. ;)
Have you guys seen the T-shirt: "I have CDO. It's like OCD, but all the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be." :D

And getting back to safety, everyone has a different "safety threshold", based on age, experience, and common sense. People comment on how small and potentially unsafe the X is, but I have ridden motorcycles and still put a lot of mileage on my bicycle, so the X seems safe in comparison. I think MG used to have the slogan "Safety Fast", meaning a car that performs well is inherently safer than one that doesn't; avoiding a collision is preferable to being surrounded by expanses of metal while and being in a collision.
In my X1/9s I drive defensively, and pay close attention to what's going on around me. I don't ride motorcycles or bicycles, but I imagine the heightened situational-awareness is similar. Once, when driving my '82 X on Hwy 116, a few miles from my home, a big car heading in the opposite direction was pulling into a turn-in lane to make a left turn across my lane. I'm not sure if they were talking on the phone, or just didn't see me, or thought they had plenty of time to make the turn, but the end result was they were pulling in front of me just as I was approaching the spot. I was driving the speed limit (45 MPH), and it would have been impossible to brake hard enough to avoid a collision. Instead I was able to smoothly weave around them, and avoid hitting their back-end, and didn't touch any of the other cars in the vicinity. I was actually too busy threading myself through an accident-free corridor to even honk my horn. It was definitely a victory for the small, nimble car!
 
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On the topic of safety. So Paul, where else should I mount my seat belt if not to the fuel line? I thought I was being safe by installing a seat belt in the first place. And the fuel line is sitting right where I drilled the hole into the bulk-head and through the gas tank. It seemed secure when once I fully tightened the nut, and the wet stuff stopped pouring out as well. :)

O.K., I'm not making light of Paul's point, which is an excellent one and well taken. In fact quite the opposite, I am in support of what Paul said. But I was also attempting to demonstrate how my sense of humor can get me in trouble. If Paul happened to view that as a serious or sarcastic reply to something he said, rather than the intended humor (I know Paul would not think that, but others might). Or for that matter, what if my reply was serious and I really did not know better, and Paul then made fun of me (again, I know he would not do that). But things like that can happen totally unintentionally, resulting in ill feelings. Therefore efforts should be made to be supportive and respective of other's comments. We all came from different backgrounds, many of you have way more knowledge than I do about the subjects discussed on Xweb. Likewise we have varying levels of communication skills or use of the language. As I often say, I can barely speak English let alone any other language. I don't think any of our members would intentionally disrespect another member, but I also know it can easily happen mistakenly.

However I also think it is important to point out a potential safety concern or other risk we might spot with another member's project. Therefore when one member offers suggestions to other member about something they've done, it should be taken in a positive, constructive light. If we feel it was intended otherwise perhaps we should ask for clarification. As Paul said, "it could save someone's life, and therefore shouldn't be met with a bunch of attitude". So a little understanding on both sides is indeed "good forum etiquette". Thanks to Paul for reminding us of this.
 
In my X1/9s I drive defensively, and pay close attention to what's going on around me. I don't ride motorcycles or bicycles, but I imagine the heightened situational-awareness is similar.

Exactly the same. I rode, commuted and raced motorcycles for about 30 years and you either treat every vehicle as a death threat or you will end up in the hospital. Don't assume any driver is making decisions based on your presence, they don't even know you are there. Look for eyes in THEIR rear view mirrors and all manner of other tricks, saves a lot of potential accidents whether you are in an X, a spider, a Miata or a motorcycle....and for that matter any other vehicle you are driving.
 
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