There's always someone around (often several someones) ready to try to derive personal benefit from the misfortunes of others. Huh? What did you say? ...something about the uninsured millions in the U.S. and the Republican Party and the "healthcare industry?" Well, yes, that IS a good example, but it's not what I'm talking about just now.
Closer to home, for many people, is the ability to have confidence in their car. And that's been a little problematic lately for Toyota owners. It seems there are people with legitimate cause for complaint: Real malfunctions over a number of years, that have now forced Toyota to do recalls, launch an investigation, and even apologize. Definitely, that should be dealt with seriously.
Now, we begin to see evidence of imitators and fakers who would like to get on the bandwagon of what they hope could be a big settlement. Was the guy in California who was rescued by the highway patrol, under circumstances that now seem questionable, the first of these? I don't know. Maybe not. His lawyer has appeared in public to argue that, because his client had told him (the lawyer) that he wasn't looking to make money out of the incident, he has no reason to lie and must be telling the truth. Possibly. My question: If that's so, why did he need a lawyer?
There's other evidence as well; a second case today in which someone drove into a stone wall (was it New York?) and is blaming their Toyota. Well, of course nothing can be ruled out, but it just seems that there's a sudden rash of these cases now, after the problem has become widely known. It seems a lot like those people who read the list of possible side effects of some medicine, and then proceed to develop every one of them.
An acquaintance was involved in an accident a few days ago. While sitting at a stoplight, she was rearended at 45-50 mph, her car totaled, by a driver she could see coming in her rearview mirror and who had her head down. This driver, too, after the accident, was quick to claim that her vehicle had accelerated uncontrollably and without warning. She happened to be driving a Jeep, not a Toyota, but never mind, a good excuse is a good excuse.
Incidentally, speaking of driving while distracted, what about the idiot in Tennessee who plowed into a large rockslide over the highway today while he was looking at the police who were trying to warn him to stop? Well, at least he didn't get out and claim that his car ran away with him.
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