The term “expansion bus “is a frequent term in vintage computer terminology which requires elaboration. Much of the legacy of vintage bus systems are in our current computer systems today.

To begin with the “expansion bus” is a data highway for computer data information to travel on: the bandwidth is in essence the number of lanes. The bigger the bandwidth the more data can be sent. As examples, an 8 megabyte bandwidth means that data can be sent in 8 bits chunks. Our current systems use between 32 bit and now 64 bit bandwidth.

An expansion bus is where cards connect to the computer; Cards have an expansion edge, which fits snugly into the bus much like an electrical plug fits into a wall socket.

When cards are plugged into the bus, they communicate with the system, sometimes through the BIOS and others not. (The BIOS is the basic input /output system that tells the computer how to move data from the different components.) The 8, 16 or 32 bit bandwidth is an important consideration due to communication time between the cards. For example you have a 16 bit vintage 286 PC and it is sending out data at 16 bits a: your video card is also 8 bits. If you have an older 8 bit bus, such as in early IBM PCs and clones, the bus will become a bottleneck in the system; it is like having a 4 lane highway connected to another 4 lane highway by way of a 1 lane road. At most times regardless of the faster 4 lane highway traffic will be slow – limited by the single lane connection road.

There were basically 3 types of expansion bus available in vintage computers: ISA, MCA, EISA systems.

Each early development in major ways paved the way for the later systems which indeed we take for granted today. This was both in terms of hardware and basic concepts in our computer systems and technology as well as computer marketing that we take for granted today as simple basic facts of life without any consideration due.

Basically the newer buses offered increased performance over the older technology buses.

The basic explanations of the buses are as follows:

The 3 bus standards to note were Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) .Micro Channel Channel Architecture (MSA) and Extended Industry Standard (EISA) bus systems.

Industry Standard Architecture (ISA). This was the original AT bus also called an ISA bus. It was the original 8 bit IBM PC bus which was bumped up to 16 bits at some point in its later development. Fine for a 16 bit 286 or very early 386 computers

Micro Channel Architecture (MSA). This was an early 32 bit bus system which was not received well but set the stage for an industry consortium of the major non IBM computer manufacturers ( at the time referred to as “The Group of Nine) to develop the EISA standard bus.

Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA). The EISA bus standard was a standard of its own right which was 32 bit, included bus mastering and importantly remained compatible with previous older expansion cards. 32 bit systems were first to incorporate in later 386 systems. The 486 line solidified and standardized the 32 bit systems in the established software of the day.

Backward compatibility at the time was a novel new concept which has remained an important consideration in the computer industry.

EISA slots would accommodate both the ISA and EISA expansion slots to allow hardware upgrades, However the EISA expansion boards would be of little advantage and would seldom work in the older ISA expansion slots.

On the other hand the Micro Channel setup was not backward compatible. On the one hand the Micro Channel developers were free to initiate new radical changes in computer development and hardware which would have allowed for major new useful features in computer software. However owners of previous systems would have been left with then obsolete vintage useless hardware which would have been of no use and certainly little financial value.

Hence there was a lot of resistance to the Micro Channel bus setup.

It died a lingering death with its legacy living on in the aspirations of features offered in future developments and standards.

Thus the die was set for future hardware standards and software function as well as standard computer marketing concepts that we take for granted like mother’s milk today.

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INTRODUCTION

The Law of Tort is a concept that has been evolving through the ages. This ever dynamic evolution of tort law has been the mater to many principles under which tortuous liability can be demanded. Simultaneously, certain other principles are used, to counter these claims for compensation. These counter claims, or defences are used to evict those innocent citizens from tortious liability who have been unfairly implicated with claims imposed on them. These defenses were formulated from time to time to keep up with the very basis of imposition of tortious liability on an individual- i.e, creating a sense of deterrence while keeping up with the basic values of justice. Defenses to tort are many: namely, Necessity, Vis Major/Force Majeure/Act of God, Inevitable accident, Plaintiff’s wrongdoing, Act of third party, Volenti non fit injuria and many more. Bringing two of these defences namely, Vis Major/Force Majeure and Inevitable Accident in the ambit of speculation this article examines its evolution and present scope.

MEANINGS AND DEFINITIONS

An inevitable accident or “unavoidable accident” is that which could not be possibly prevented by the exercise of ordinary care, caution and skill. It does not apply to anything which either party might have avoided. Inevitable accident was defined by Sir Frederick Pollock as an accident

“not avoidable by any such precautions as a reasonable man, doing such an act then there, could be expected to take.”

It does not mean a catastrophe which could not have been avoided by any precaution whatever, but such as could not have been avoided by a reasonable man at the moment at which it occurred, and it is common knowledge that a reasonable man is not credited by the law with perfection of judgment. As observed by Greene M.R., an accident is“one out of the ordinary course of things, something so unusual as not to be looked for by a person of ordinary prudence.” All causes of inevitable accident may be divided into 2 classes[1]:

Those which are occasioned by the elementary forces of nature unconnected with the agency of man or other cause Those which have their origin either in the whole or in part in the agency of man, whether in acts of commission or omission, nonfeasance, or in any other causes independent of the agency of natural forces. The term “Act of God” is applicable to the former class.

An accident is said to be ‘inevitable’ not merely when caused by Vis major or the act of God but also when all precautions reasonably to be required have been taken, and the accident has occurred notwithstanding. That there is no liability in such a case seems only one aspect of the proposition that liability must be based on fault. Act of God or Vis Major or Force Majeure may be defined as circumstances which no human foresight can provide against any of which human prudence is not bound to recognize the possibility, and which when they do occur, therefore are calamities that do not involve the obligation of paying for the consequences that result from them.[2] Vis Major includes those consequences which are occasioned by elementary force of nature unconnected with the agency of man. Common examples are falling of a tree, a flash of lightening, a tornado or a flood. The essential conditions of this defence are:

The event causing damage was the result of natural forces without any intervention from human agency. The event was such that the possibility of such an event could not be recognized by using reasonable care and foresight[3].

The American Jurisprudence defines act of God as:

An event may be considered an act   of God when it is occasioned exclusively by the violence of nature. While courts have articulated varying definitions of an act of God, the crux of the definition typically is an act of nature that is the sole proximate cause of the event for which liability is sought to be disclaimed[4].

Act of God as a defence arises only where escape is caused through natural causes without human intervention, in circumstances which no human foresight can provide against and of which human prudence is not bound to recognize the possibility[5].

ORIGIN AND HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE DEFENCES

INEVITABLE ACCIDENT

In the pre nineteenth century cases, the defence of inevitable accident used to be essentially relevant in actions for trespass when the old rule was that even a faultless trespassery contact was actionable, unless the defendant could show that the accident was inevitable. It was for long thought that the burden of proof in trespass upon the person rested with the defendant and that trespass, therefore, offered scope to the defence of inevitable accident, but it has now been held that here too the burden is with the claimant[6]. In trespass as well as in negligence, therefore, inevitable accident has no place. In these cases inevitable accident is irrelevant because the burden is on the claimant to establish the defendant’s negligence, but it does not follow that that it is any more relevant if the claimant has no such burden. The emerging conception of inevitability can be seen most clearly in Whitelock v. Wherwell [7], the bolting horse case from 1398. The complaint in Whitelock was unusual because the plaintiff, rather than just reciting that the defendant had hit him with force and arms, also alleged that the defendant had “controlled the horse so negligently and improvidently” that it knocked him down. The defendant conceded that the horse had knocked down the plaintiff, but pleaded that the plaintiff’s fall was “against the will” of the defendant. The defendant went on to explain that he had hired the horse without notice of its bad habits, that it ran away with him as soon as he mounted it, and that he “could in no way stop the horse” although he “used all his strength and power to control” it. It was a plea of inevitable accident in a case of latent defect (the horse is a “bolter”). The collision may have been inevitable, but it had become inevitable by virtue of the defendant’s negligence, and was thus not held to be an accident.

The first explicit statement that a defendant can escape liability in trespass if the accident was inevitable occurs in Weaver v. Ward [8], decided in 1616. The category “inevitable accident” was understood, in its inception as distinguished from the defence of “accident,” or “mischance,” which was available in felony but not in trespass, and which was a true no-negligence defence. The defendant in Weaver inadvertently shot the plaintiff when his musket discharged while their company of soldiers was skirmishing with another band. The defendant pleaded that he “accidentally and by misfortune and against his will, in discharging his musket, injured and wounded the plaintiff; which wounding is the same trespass of which the plaintiff complains.” Substantively, this was a plea of accident. The plaintiff demurred, and the court held the defendant’s plea bad. In trespass, the plaintiff needed only to allege that the defendant had done harm with force and arms, rather than done harm negligently. In actions on the case, however, allegations of negligence seem always to have been necessary[9].

In property damage cases involving heavy weather, where there was typically a presumption of fault against the moving vessel, and the vessel owner’s efforts to rebut liability take the inevitable accident form. The inevitable accident defence was typically invoked when a vessel, caught in the full force of a storm, has been driven against another vessel or vessels, or against a fixed structure[10]. Property damage cases also involved destruction by fire.  In Tucker v. Smith[11] (1359), the defendant said simply that his house “caught fire by mischance and was burned down so that the fire there from being blown by the wind to [plaintiff's] house” burned it “by mischance.” It can be quite as impractical to stop an ordinary wind from spreading fire as a tempest. The plaintiff therefore elected to join issue on how the fire started rather than how it spread. His special traverse claimed that the defendants burned the house “of their own wrong and by their fault” and denied that it “was burned down by mischance.”

In Ellis v. Angwyn[12] (1390), the defendant pleaded that unknown to him and “against his will, a fire suddenly arose by mischance” in his house, and was spread by “a great gust of wind” to the plaintiff’s houses. The plea says nothing about what the defendant did to prevent the fire from arising or spreading. The act of God was thus incorporated (though not by that name) in a plea of accident to show that the harm was inevitable.The last pre-nineteenth century case that directly deals with how inevitable accident should be pleaded is Gibbons v. Pepper[13]. The defendant pleaded that his horse became frightened and “ran away with him so that he could not stop the horse,” that the plaintiff ignored his warning “to take care,” and that the horse thus ran over the plaintiff “against the will of the defendant.” In substance, this was a plea of inevitable accident. Gibbons thus holds that inevitable accident should be raised by pleading the general issue when the substantive nature of the plea amounts to a complete denial of causal responsibility. The Gibbons court put the “runaway horse” on a par with the hypothetical case of A using B’s hand to strike C, and treated both as denials.

In Mitchell v. Allestry[14] (1676), the plaintiff was run over by two untamed horses the defendants were breaking in a public square. The plaintiff initially brought an action claiming that the defendants “did negligently permit” the horses to run over her. But at the first trial “the evidence as to the negligence” went against the plaintiff, and she was non-suited. She then brought a second suit, in which, as counsel for the defendant said, her “own declaration excused” the defendants of that “negligence,” because it said “that on account of their ferocity they could not govern them, but that they did run upon her.” The first suit failed because the evidence-given that the plaintiff did not challenge the defendants’ antecedent decision to break horses in a public square-showed that the harm was both accidental and inevitable. The court (Hale, C.B.) pointed out, however, that the plaintiff could sue again on a different theory. This accordingly illustrates the way in which some decisions about precautions were governed only by accident, while others were also governed by inevitability. In the Nitro Glycerine[15] case, the defendants, a firm of carriers, received a wooden case to be carried to its destination and its contents were not communicated. It was found that the contents were leaking. The case was taken to the defendants’ office, which they had rented from the plaintiff and the defendants proceeded to open the case for examination but the nitro glycerine which was present had already exploded. All present were killed and the building was badly damaged. The defendants were held not liable “in the absence of reasonable ground of suspicion, the contents of the package offered them for carriage” and that, they were “without such knowledge in fact and without negligence.”

In the case of Holmes v. Mather[16], the defendant’s horses while being driven by his servant on a public highway ran away from a barking dog and became unmanageable that the servant could not stop them, but could, to some extent guide them. While trying to turn a corner safely, they knocked down and injured the plaintiff on the highway. It was held that the action was not maintainable since the servant had done his best under the circumstances. In the case of Fardon v. Harcourt-Rivington[17] the defendant parked his saloon motor car in a street and left his dog inside. The dog has always been quiet and docile. As the plaintiff was walking past the car, the dog started jumping about in the car, smashed a glass panel, and a splinter entered into the plaintiff’s left eye which had to be removed. Sir Frederick Pollock said: “People must guard against reasonable probabilities but they are not bound to guard against fantastic possibilities[18]” In the absence of negligence, the plaintiff could not recover damages. In the case of Brown v. Kendal[19], the plaintiff’s and defendants dogs were fighting. The defendant was hitting the dogs to stop them from fighting while the plaintiff was standing at a distance watching them. Accidentally, the stick hit and hurt the plaintiff’s eye. In an action for damages it was held that the defendant would not be liable since the damage was the result of a pure accident and not the negligence of the defendant.

The use of inevitable accident in early actions interpreted inevitability as impracticality. In the present scenario, to speak of inevitable accident as a defence, therefore, is to say that there are cases in which the defendant will escape liability if he succeeds in proving that the accident occurred despite the use of reasonable care on his part, but is also to say that there are cases in which the burden of proving this is placed upon him. In an ordinary action for negligence, for example, it is for the claimant to prove the defendant’s lack of care, not for the defendant to disprove it, and the defence of inevitable accident is accordingly irrelevant and it is equally irrelevant in any other class of case in which the burden of proving the defendant’s negligence is imposed upon the claimant. Nor is the position different in a case of res ipsa loquitor, for that merely raises a prima facie case[20].

STRICT LIABILITY – Rule in Rylands v. Fletcher

The doctrine of strict liability has been widely extended to activities considered abnormally dangerous or ultra hazardous. We essentially adopt Rylands v. Fletcher[21] in imposing liability for ultra hazardous activities. Such activities necessarily involve a risk of serious harm to others, cannot be eliminated by the exercise of utmost care, and are not a matter of common usage. In theory, strict liability does not depend upon such factors as intent, recklessness, knowledge, negligence, moral blameworthiness, or any other degree of culpability. Nor does it depend upon the degree of care that defendant exercised or failed to exercise. Rather, liability is based simply upon the risks involved. The judgment of Lord Blackburn, approved by the House of Lords in the famous case of Rylands v. Fletcher[22] itself recognized that liability was not absolute being subject to certain exceptions. Lord Blackburn casually stated:

“[Defendant] can excuse himself by showing that the escape was owing to the plaintiff’s default; or perhaps that the escape was the consequence of vis major, or the act of God.”

Hence, he made it a part of the rule. If an animal has caused some kind of harm, and the aggrieved party seeks to sue the keeper of that animal for compensation for that harm, it seems that the fact that the animal acted the way it did because of the malicious act of the stranger or an Act of God will afford no defence to the plaintiff’s claim. Consequently, the potential liability of the keeper of a dangerous animal is wider than the potential of the keeper of an inanimate dangerous thing[23]. Inevitable accident in any form is no defence in strict liability. As in Rylands v. Fletcher, the defendant is liable notwithstanding that he has taken reasonable care, it can avail him nothing to prove inevitable accident and the same is true in those cases where the liability for nuisance is strict[24]. It therefore seems that the conception of inevitable accident has no longer ay useful function and it is doubtful whether much advantage is gained by the continued use of the phrase, which anyway seems to have dropped out of use. Further, inevitable accident in any form is no defence to a claim based on the rule of strict liability as laid down in M C Mehta v. Union of India[25], which is not subjected to any exception.

VIS MAJOR

Act of God, which is defined to be such a direct, violent, sudden and irresistible act of nature as could not by any amount of ability , have been foreseen or if foreseen, could not by any amount of care and skill have been resisted[26]. Since time immemorial, we have been witnessing a parade of natural calamities of seemingly biblical proportions: earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, drought and a deadly tsunami. Lives are lost, properties destroyed or damaged, and emotions shattered when these forces of nature tragically strike. The severity of nature’s blow may come as a total shock and surprise both to the direct victims of the disaster and, subsequently, to the accused tort feasors. What follows this is a myriad rush of litigations, especially in heavily litigated countries like the United States of America.   Defendants are quick to claim act of God as a defence to these lawsuits. For three centuries, the act of God defence has been accepted in negligence and strict liability cases. As a legal concept, act of God shows up not only as a defence, but also in discussions of duty and causation. At first glance, the act of God defence seems a simple, straight-forward concept with few nuances or intricacies. Consequently, all too often, many attorneys have misused the phrase “act of God” to mean any unfortunate act of nature. Vis Major to afford a defence, must be the proximate cause, the causa causans, and not merely the causa sine quo non of the damage complained of[27]. The mere fact that Vis major co existed with or followed on the negligence to accelerate the damage caused is no adequate defence. Before an act of God may be admitted as an excuse, the defendant must himself have done all he is bound to do. In a sixteenth century opinion, in the Shelly’s Case best known for the famous property law doctrine of the rule in Shelley’s Case[28], the court wrote in terms of performance becoming impossible by an act of God, which was the death of one of the parties. The court stated:

“It would be unreasonable that those things which are inevitable by the Act of God, which no industry can avoid, nor policy prevent should be construed to the prejudice of any person in whom there was no laches”.

No further explanation of the phrase, ‘Act of God’, was provided by the court. The phrase reappeared in the 1702 case of Coggs v. Bernard[29], which invoked liability for a bailment by a common carrier. Justice Powell opined that a bailee shall answer accidents, as if the goods were stolen; but not such accidents and casualties as happen by the act of God, as fire, tempest for the bailee is not bound, upon any undertaking against the act of God. The act of God defence expanded from common carriers into other areas of strict liability. The Courts then extended the act of God defence to cases of negligence. The act of God defence received prominence in decisions construing the common-law liability of common carriers who were treated as insurers of the goods they carried.  Since strict liability applied to insurers, the act of God defence existed to ameliorate an otherwise potentially draconian liability.  In the case of Morse v. Slue[30], Judge Hale stated that the master is not chargeable in the case of pirates, storms, and the like, “but where there is any negligence in him he is.” Morse involved a ship lying in the Thames which was boarded by robbers who took the plaintiff’s goods from the vessel.

In 1785, Lord Mansfield delivered a unanimous opinion in Forward v. Pittard[31], which involved an accidental fire for which the carrier was in no way at fault. The court clearly established a rule of strict liability for common carriers: It appears from all the cases for 100 years back, that there are events for which the carrier is liable independent of his contract. Again, in Forward, the English courts limited the act of God defence by excluding acts of man. In addition, the burden of proof was shifted from the plaintiff to the defendant to establish the existence of the act of God defence. Although the courts subsequently split on the liability issue for common carriers whose delay subjected its freight to damage from an act of God, there was a consensus that liability would result if the common carriers knew that the force of nature was coming. In the 1875 case of Nichols v. Marsland[32], the defendant had a series of artificial lakes on his land in the construction and maintenance of which there had been no negligence. Owing to unusual rainfall, so great that it could not have been reasonably anticipated, the reservoirs burst carrying away four country bridges. The court of appeals held that an act of God is a defence in cases of reservoir failures. In the subsequent case of Smith v. Fletcher, Baron Bramwell followed the strict liability holding of Rylands, but dismissed the act of God defence even though the flood was extraordinary, and they could not foresee it on the grounds that it did not affect their legal responsibility. Greenock Corp. v. Caledonian Railway Co.[33], contrasts with Nichols. The House of Lords cirticised the application of the defence in Nichols v. Marshland, and four of their lordships cast doubt on the finding of facts by the jury in that case In this case, the Corporation obstructed and altered the course of a stream by constructing a padding pool for children. Due to rainfall of extraordinary violence which would normally have been carried away by the stream overflowed and caused damage to the plaintiff’s property. It was held that rainfall was not an Act of God. The House of Lords followed Rylands in holding that a person making an operation for collecting and damming up the water of a stream must so work as to make proprietors or occupants on a lower level as secure against injury as they would have been had nature not been interfered with. Nichols was further distinguished on two bases: the escape in Nichols was from a reservoir rather than a natural stream, and a jury in Nichols found the flood was due to an act of God. There had been ‘no negligence in the construction or maintenance of the reservoirs,” and “the flood was so great that it could not reasonably have been anticipated’.

Smilar to Greenock Corp. is Nitro-Phosphate & Odam’s Chemical Monroe Co. v. London & St. Katherine Docks Co.[34], where an extraordinarily high tide may well have constituted an act of God, but the defendant was still negligent because it built a dock insufficiently high. As stated by Lord Justice James in Nugent v. Smith[35], the accident must be due to natural causes, directly and exclusively, and that it ‘could not have been prevented by any amount of foresight and pains and care reasonably to be expected from him’.

In the case of Blyth v. Birmingham Water Works Co[36] the defendants had constructed water pipes which were reasonably strong enough to withstand severe frost. There was an extraordinarily severe frost that year causing the pipes to burst resulting in severe damage to the plaintiff’s property. It was held that though frost is a natural phenomenon, the occurrence of an unforeseen severe frost can be attributed to an act of God, hence relieving the defendants of any liability. In the Indian case of Ramalinga Nadar v. Narayana Reddiar[37] the plaintiff had booked goods with the defendant for transportation. The goods were looted by a mob, the prevention of which was beyond control of defendant. It was held that every event beyond control of the defendant cannot be said act of God. It was held that the destructive acts of an unruly mob cannot be considered an Act of God.

In the case of J & J Makin Ltd .v London and North Eastern Railway Co.[38], liability for damage was imposed on the defendants even if such damage was caused by an act of God. The defendants were owners of a canal which crossed a valley at the top of a high embankment. As the result of a violent storm the embankment collapsed and a great quantity of water escaped from the canal into the stream below and was carried down to the plaintiff’s mill where it was deposited together with a large number of stones. The plaintiffs in claiming damages said that the act imposed absolute liability irrespective of negligence.

ACT OF GOD AND NEGLIGENCE

Act of God, in law, is an accident caused by the operation of extraordinary natural force. The effect of ordinary natural causes (e.g., that rain will leak through a defective roof) may be foreseen and avoided by the exercise of human care; failure to take the necessary precautions constitutes negligence.  Negligence, in law, especially tort law, is the breach of an obligation (duty) to act with care, or the failure to act as a reasonable and prudent person would under similar circumstances. Both these defences are based on reasonable foreseeability. In terms of foreseeability, the question is not whether a similar event has occurred before, but whether the risk that this particular mishap may occur is foreseeable. Thus, a flood, earthquake, hurricane, or other natural force need not have previously struck a particular location for negligence to exist. Liability may still exist if reasonable design, construction, operation, inspection, or maintenance.

For a plaintiff to recover damages, this action or failure must be the “proximate cause” of an injury, and actual loss must occur. In cases of joint causation, where both human negligence and act of God have a role to play, the traditional sine qua non (“but for”), substantial factor, or legal causation tests apply. If the act of God is so overwhelming that its own force produces the injury independent of the defendant’s negligence, then the defendant will not be liable. If the damages suffered are incurred solely due to natural causes without any known fault, there is no liability because of the act of God. There are two ways of viewing this situation. The act of God either supersedes the defendant’s negligence, or the defendant’s negligent act is not a cause in fact of the injury. In either case, the defendant’s act did not cause the damage since the injury would have occurred anyway. The party injured in the accident may be entitled to damages. An act of God, however, is so extraordinary and devoid of human agency that reasonable care would not avoid the consequences; hence, the injured party has no right to damages. Accidents caused by tornadoes, perils of the sea, extraordinary floods, and severe ice storms are usually considered acts of God, but fires are not so considered unless they are caused by lightning.

PRESENT DAY POSITION OF THE DEFENSES

The relationship between these two defences is a slightly ambiguous one. Going by logic and definition, these two defences are very similar in nature. In fact, by definition, Vis Major/Force Majeure is considered a type of inevitable accident. However, a careful study of their evolutionary process throws results subscribing to the contrary. These two defences are two distinct forms of escaping liability in tort. They are, in practice referred to as two separate defences instead of one being a subset of the other. The very term “Inevitable accident” is used for incidents where accidents occur by chance, in the absence of any form of negligence or human error. Meanwhile, Vis Major specifically restricts itself to severe and unforeseen acts of nature leading to a particular damage. One similarity in both these defences is that these grounds stand nullified if negligence of the defendant is proved. An inevitable accident is an event which happens not only without the concurrence of the will of the man, but in spite of all efforts on his part to prevent it. It means, an accident physically unavoidable something which cannot be prevented by human skill or foresight. However, in the absence of negligence, Vis Major appears to be a more valid claim. Having resulted from a severe and drastic natural catastrophe, Vis Major easily has a wider domain. From a philosophical point of view, this is a principle which makes God the defendant hence making the accident truly beyond human control. Au contrarie, Liability might be imposed on a party not negligent on the grounds of the risk involved in the activity they were doing. A glaring example of this is the non applicability of “inevitable accident” as a defence in cases of Strict Liability as opposed to the claim of “Act of God”. This can be observed in the Indian case of A Krishna Patra v. Orissa State Electricity Board[39] where it was held that Inevitable Accident is not a valid defence in a case of accidental death due to electrocution. Since transmission of electricity was a dangerous activity, the principle of strict liability was applied in this case. The Court further observed:

……We are of the view that an enterprise which is engaged in a hazardous or inherently dangerous industry which poses a potential threat to the health and safety of the persons working in the factory and residing in the surrounding areas owes an absolute and non-delegable duty to the community to” ensure that no harm results to anyone on account of hazardous or inherently dangerous nature of the activity which it has undertaken……” And “…… We would therefore hold that where an enterprise is engaged in a hazardous or inherently dangerous activity and harm results to anyone on account of an accident in the operation of such hazardous or inherently dangerous activity resulting, for example, in escape of toxic gas the enterprise is strictly and absolutely liable to compensate all those who are affected by the accident and such liability is not subject to any of the exceptions which operate vis-a-vis the tortious principles of strict liability under the rule in Rylands v. Fletcher.

Thus, the plea of inevitable accident has, in cases of this type, practically lost all its utility. The ambit of Inevitable Accident as a defence has shrunk majorly. The plea of inevitable accident has now substantially lost its utility[40]. Since the principle of strict liability applies even in the absence of negligence on the part of the defendant, inevitable accident in the absence of a natural catastrophe does not hold any scope as a defence. With growth of scientific knowledge, the number of accidents that can be termed “inevitable” is fast dimishing. However, things are a little different for those Inevitable Accidents that involve nature’s intervention.

Vis Major as a defence depends on two things; lack of predictability and lack of control. If either criteria is missing, the defence fails. Both were solidly based for centuries on the lack of scientific knowledge. Man not only lacked the ability to predict the forces of nature, but also the ability to guard against, control, or otherwise minimize their impacts. In the words of the ancient mime writer Publilius, ‘it is vain to look for a defence against lightning’. Today, foreseeability is based not only upon the past, but also upon that which modern technology and science allow us to project into the future. Science has advanced to the point where we can understand many forces of nature, such as precipitation and flooding. Historically, we know which areas have been subjected to specific forces of nature. Scientifically, we can predict the areas which may be subjected to such forces. At first glance, the act of God defence should continue to play a role in strict liability cases. Part of the underlying purpose of the act of God doctrine was to ameliorate strict liability. In strict liability a number of exceptions have evolved. Whether a particular occurrence amounts to an Act of God is a question of fact, but the ambit of this defence is somewhat restricted. Increased knowledge seems to limit the unpredictable. Natural hazards are no longer a mystery to us. Hence, the applicability of the act of God defence has shrunk in inverse proportion to rapidly expanding concepts of foreseeability. Conversely, environmental changes at the global level have left some scope for Vis Major as a defence. Unforeseen disasters like the July 26, 2005 floods in Mumbai or the devastating Tsunami on 26 December 2004, which was the result of severe earthquake with its epicentre at Indonesia can still be attributed to acts of God. These disasters were completely unforeseen and any prior intimation about the same would not have helped bring the situation under control. Such natural catastrophe has left some scope for the use of Act of God as a defence.

[1]Ratanlal and Dhirajlal, Law of Torts, (Wadhwa, Nagpur, 24th Ed., 2002) : Margaret Brazier and John Murphy, Street on Torts, (Butterworths, London Edinburgh Dublin, 10th Ed., 1999)

[2] Greencock Corporation v. Caleodonian Railway Co., (1917) AC 556

[3] M N Shukla, The Law of Torts,(Central Law Agency, Allahbad, 16th Ed 1998)

[4] American Jurisprudence, Second Edition

[5] Margaret Brazier and John Murphy, Street on Torts, (Butterworths, London Edinburgh Dublin, 10th Ed., 1999)

[6] Fowler v. Lanning (1959) 1 All ER 290

[7] 43 Emory L.J. 575, Pg (610)

[8] Hob. 134, 80 Eng. Rep. 284 (K.B. 1616). C.F. 43 Emory L.J. 575, Pg (591)

[9] 43 Emory L.J. 575, Pg (590)

[10] Clerk and Lindsell, Clerk & Lindsell on Torts, (Sweet & Maxwell, London, 17th Ed., 1999)

[11] 43 Emory L.J. 575, Pg (611)

[12] 43 Emory L.J. 575, Pg (611)

[13] 43 Emory L.J. 575, Pg (635)

[14] 43 Emory L.J. 575, Pg (641)

[15] (1872) 15 Wallace 524

[16] (1875) LR 10 Ex 261, 267

[17] (1932) 146 LT 391 (392)

[18] PER LORD DUNEDIN in Fardon v. Harcourt-Rivington, (1932) 146 LT 391 (392)

[19] (1859) 6 Cussing 292

[20] Clerk and Lindsell, Clerk & Lindsell on Torts, (Sweet & Maxwell, London, 17th Ed., 1999)

[21] (1868) LR 3 HL 330

[22] Supra

[23] Clerk and Lindsell, Clerk & Lindsell on Torts, (Sweet & Maxwell, London, 17th Ed., 1999)

[24] Margaret Brazier and John Murphy, Street on Torts, (Butterworths, London Edinburgh Dublin, 10th Ed., 1999)

[25] (1987) 1 SCC 395

[26] Nugent v. Smith Infra 21 , Vithaldas v. Municipal Commissionar of Bombay, (1902) 4 Bom LR 914

[27] Slater v. Worthington’s Cash Stores (1941) 1 KB 488

[28] Rule deals with remainders in the transfer of real property by deed

[29] 92 Eng.Rep 107 (1703).

[30] Raym. 220. 1 Vent. 190, 238

[31] (1785) 1 TR 27

[32] (1875) LR 10 Ex 255

[33] (1917) AC 556 (HL)

[34] (1878) 9 Ch D 5

[35] (1876) 1 CPD 423,435

[36] (1856) H Ex. 781

[37] AIR 1971 Kerala 197

[38]1 All ER 362

[39] AIR 1997 Orissa 109

[40] WINFIELD and JOLOWICZ, Tort, 18th edition, p.718

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When you’re hitting America’s highways, life can get a little lonely. There are some resources you’ll want to take with you- no matter what your reason for travel- if you’re going to be traveling far and long.

The Rand McNally Deluxe Motor Carriers’ Road Atlas

The regular atlas or a AAA trip-tick is fine for the novice or the occasional traveler. But if you’re in it for the long haul, you’ll want the luxury of this laminated, spiral-bound monster. You can use it for years without ripping the pages, you can write on it without bleeding through and you can spill coffee on it without affecting it’s readability.

Inside its pages, you will find a wealth of information. The numbers for trucking associations for the US and Canada, for DOT and state police, for national hotel chains, and for state weather and construction information. The regulations for over the road carriers- legal weight limits, restricted routes (though not all-inclusive), low bridges (though not necessarily all-inclusive), inspection procedures, documentation requirements and logbook regulations. If you take the time to read all the information in the front of the Motor Carriers’ Road Atlas, you’ll come away with more knowledge than when you started.

Most locations of weigh stations are relatively accurate, though there are weigh stations in use that are not marked on the atlas. Most trucking regulations are up to date and accurate, though enforcement information is not available. CoopsAreOpen has the most current and complete weigh station scales and DOT rules.

You can buy the Deluxe Motor Carriers’ Atlas at most truck stops or online at the Rand McNally website. The cost will depend on what time of year you buy it. The later in the year, the cheaper the price (because the new editions come out toward the beginning of a new year). Prices range anywhere from $30-$65. It also comes in a large print edition.

The Truck Stop Guide

Any truck stop guide will do- so long as it has locations, phone numbers, and a list of services. A “pocket truck stop guide” is alright if you already know the places and faces. But for the rest of us, a more detailed guide is a good idea. You’ll be glad you spent the money if you need to know where the best places to stop are on the road in front of you.

Truck stops used to mean good food and friendly people. It’s not always true these days, but you have a better chance of finding these at a truck stop (or nearby) than you do if you just throw caution to the wind and hope for the best. Truck stop guides will tell you which truck stops have 24 hour service, repair shops and restaurants. You can usually gauge the size of the truck stop by the size of the lot listed in the guide.

If you need to do laundry, receive a fax, receive a delivery (FedEx, UPS or DHL type), get a shower, or just plain get off the road for a few hours- a truck stop is a safe bet. A truck stop guide will tell you what services the truck stops have and provide the phone number if you want to call ahead to get the fax number or address. (Find out how to get a fax number that sends and receives faxes using your current email address. Try eFax free – instant activation.)

Just don’t be surprised to find that when you arrive, the Heavenly Haven you hoped for is a Roach Ranch instead- truck stop guides do not include quality ratings. And many truck stops will not allow you to use the shower facilities unless you are a trucker.

You can buy a variety of truck stop guides at most truck stops. Prices range from $13-$30.

Electric Cooler

Most rigs and other vehicles are not equipped with refrigerators so a cooler makes sense. The electric coolers (made by Igloo or Kool-a-tron) plug right into your lighter plug- no need to constantly drain water and refill with ice. They are great for beverages and, in the short term, for dairy items. They do not cool to refrigerator temperatures, so foods requiring refrigeration will go bad faster.

Meals at truck stop restaurants and other roadside eateries can get very expensive over time. Being able to keep some staples like milk, lunchmeat and mayonnaise can help keep costs down and make small meals more enjoyable.

The electric coolers double as food warmers, as well. So if you are traveling with prepared foods, you can keep them warm to your destination. Most truckers who don’t have a refrigerator travel with one large electric cooler and use it to keep groceries and beverages chilled.

You can buy an electric cooler at most truck stops or at many super-type stores. Prices range from about $70 to $120 for large electric coolers.

Global Positioning System – Satellite Navigation

Traveling with a map is great, but traveling with GPS can make navigating your course a lot easier. GPS indicates your exact position as it relates to the map and routing software will determine your course and give you turn by turn directions. Magellan, Pioneer, Alpine, Streets and Trips- they all have good maping software. There are plenty of other systems, as well. These are all designed with cars in mind, however, not eighteen-wheelers. So, you’ll want to keep that in mind if you’re driving anything bigger than an SUV.

There is a GPS maping system designed for commercial vehicles called CoPilot Truck. It is designed to follow truck routes and to avoid low bridges and routes that would be unsafe for a trucker to use. However, it is always the driver’s responsibility to know where you are or aren’t allowed and to use your own judgment on the routing you choose.

Never trust your GPS completely. GPS is a wonderful aid, but if you rely on it without using common sense and your own ability to navigate and follow directions you may find yourself in a bind from time to time. Road closures, map inaccuracies and wrong addresses are all concerns when it comes to using computer routing. Be sure you have a handle on where you are and where you are going at all times- just to be on the safe side.

You can buy a GPS system at most truck stops, electronics stores and super-type stores. It’s best to shop around. Most GPS navigation units require a laptop computer to run them- though there are in-dash and hand-held GPS systems. Prices for independent units range from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.

Cell phone

When cell phones first came out they were an expensive investment. Local plans were often 20 cents per minute and roaming or long distance calls could put you in the poor house quickly. These days, you can find a reasonably priced service plan that is tailored to meet your needs.

Cingular, Verizon, Sprint PCS, and Nextel all have good plans and coverage areas. You also have the option of pre-paid cellular- which can help if you operate on a budget (you never buy more than you can afford).

Cell phones are good to have in case of an emergency or break down. But they are also good for keeping in touch with loved ones. You will find it is worth the expense to talk on a cell phone rather than trying to have a private conversation on a payphone in a truck stop- even if it’s in a private phone booth.

You can buy a cell phone at most truck stops, grocery stores, super-type stores, electronic stores and individual cellular company stores. Cell phones range from free with a service contract to several hundred dollars. Plan prices vary largely depending on what your needs are.

Citizen’s Band Radio (c.b.)

The c.b. radio is the cornerstone of trucking. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a trucker who doesn’t have one, though there are truckers out there who choose to travel without the squak box, as it is sometimes called.

Many people get deep into the c.b. (and ham radio) lifestyle. You’ll see cars running around with huge radio antennas and dragging rods that keep the car grounded for good reception- not a good idea in a lightning storm. You’ll see truckers with big antennas with coils on them pointed forward at an angle. A lot of truckers pay big money to get big power in their radios.

Until you’re sure of what you want, you’ll want to start small. You can spend a lot of money and if you don’t know what you’re buying, you may find you spent your money needlessly. Starting out, a Cobra 25 or Cobra 29 will do just fine. You can take it to a radio shop at a truck stop that has a good reputation to get it “peaked and tuned” and “matched to your antenna” and you’ll get good use out of it.

The CB radio is very helpful in bad weather and traffic situations. You can talk to other drivers and find out what the roads are like ahead of you and hear warnings of dangerous situations you may encounter. You will also find that there are a lot of people who use the c.b. as their personal entertainment- talking non-stop and harassing other drivers. At times, it is hard to get the information you’re looking for because there is so much chatter on the air waves. Still, it is a good idea to have a c.b. radio so you can communicate verbally with the drivers around you when you need to.

If you are new to trucking or to c.b. radios, you will find that truckers have their own language. They’ll be able to pick you out as a newbie or a novice, so don’t bother trying to be a smooth talker at first. There are a few drivers who will pick on you until you can “blend in,” but most drivers are helpful and won’t mind talking to a fellow traveler.

You can buy a c.b. at most truck stops and electronics stores. Prices range from $20-$30 all the way up to hundreds of dollars.

Satellite Radio

The birth of satellite radio was a huge milestone for the trucking industry. Most truckers who subscribe to one of the two services (XM Radio or Sirius Radio) can’t imagine trucking without satellite radio- though they did it for years. For most truckers, satellite radio isn’t an option… it has become a necessity.

Hours and hours of driving can lead to boredom. It is frustrating to loose an am or fm radio station you’ve been listening to. Both XM and Sirius have hundreds of talk, comedy, sports and music stations that won’t fade out no matter how far you drive.

The satellites orbit the earth south of the U.S. so the further north you drive, the more likely you are to experience a blocked signal. If you are running through a valley between mountains or through a tunnel, your signal may cut out until you hit clear sky again.

If you are using the small “mouse” antenna that comes with most satellite systems, you will want to be sure it is properly mounted on the top of your vehicle. If you mount the antenna to one side you may find that if you travel east or west and the antenna is on the north side of the truck, your vehicle will block the antenna from getting a signal. If you are parked on the north side of a large warehouse, your antenna may be blocked from getting a signal.

The larger your vehicle, the more likely it is that you may want to switch to a trucker antenna for satellite radio. These are larger and mount more like a c.b. antenna. They will have a stronger signal in situations where the mouse antenna might loose the signal.

Some trucking companies provide satellite radio systems and/or service for their drivers, but for those who have to pay for their own, it‘s worth the expense.

You can buy a satellite radio system at most truck stops, electronic stores, and car stereo stores. Prices range from less than $100 for a plug-and-play type of unit to several hundred for an in-dash radio. You’ll also need to purchase the service from the provider for about $15/month in order to experience satellite radio.

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Like any other piece of equipment, your electric scooter is also subject to potential wear. Just because it’s pretty compact and doesn’t use gas to run does not mean that it is forever spared from possible breakdowns. So, if your electric scooter unit bogs down, where can you take it? Are there any electric scooter repair shops around?

Fortunately for you, because an electric scooter operates on a simple and commonplace electric mechanism, you can have it repaired at a local electronics or motorcycle shops. Some shops that have absolutely no experience with electric scooters might get intimidated and turn you down, but it’s really not complicated to redo at all.

If going to neighborhood repair shops is not an option for you, you can contact the dealer who sold you the scooter and ask where you can have it fixed. More likely, the dealer will also have people who know how to repair these kinds of vehicles, so you can just as well consider it a one-stop shop. Also, check if your unit is still covered by the warranty so you can have it repaired for free.

It will probably take just a few days to repair your scooter. For minor damage, you might even only need to wait a few hours to get it back up and running again. Overall, you shouldn’t expect your electric scooter to be free of hassles forever. Because it also gets tired from constant use, it will expectely give out at some point.

But, if you also do not use your electric scooter often, the underuse could also contribute to the damage. If you don’t plan on using it regularly, make sure it is properly stored and placed away from moisture. You paid quite a price for your electric scooter. And while you don’t wear it down with constant use, the least you can do it maintain it well.

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Gasoline prices skyrocketing? No need to worry – with a motor or electric scooter one gallon of gas will last for weeks.

As people start driving electric scooters, they find more and more reasons to like them. They’re practical, easy to park and get great gas mileage. With gasoline price raising day by day, the popularity of playful, fuel-efficient electric scooters has soared. According to industry experts, last year’s sales have doubled compared to a year ago, and only in 2005 more than 300,000 electric scooters were sold.

The hard-core scooter enthusiast enjoys the feel of scooting which many people compare to skating on land. For those who live downtown, scooters make the everyday commute fun and easy, and most models are compact enough to be taken onto public transport and then stored under a desk for the rest of the working day – and you can recharge the battery. Electric and motor scooters allow you to save money on gas – even Vespa, the grand dame of scooters, easily sips one gallon of gas during 50 miles of city ride.

Some people turn to scooters after losing their driving privileges; some find the scooter more romantic than bike and enjoy so-called scooter dates. Many people in the Far East switched to electric scooters for the fear of SARS, and this summer many scooter enthusiasts proudly looked up at their fellow city dwellers, as they were suffocating in jammed streetcars and buses.

No matter why people choose motor and electric scooters today, the thriving sales have resulted in many new models with exiting features and design.

One of the most popular scooter models is the eGO-2 Cycle, which combines the best features of a bike and an electric scooter. Ego can be used as a bicycle but has all the equipment of a scooter, including headlights, turn signals, brakes and throttle. With aluminum silver-plated chassis, this work of art can easily make up to 25mph climbing hill – and weighing less than 120 lbs! The ego retails for around $1400 depending on a retailer.

Another two-wheeled whiz kid on the block is a Xootr, a cross between a skateboard and an electric scooter. Although Xootr can take you around at the speed of 10 km it has neither suspension nor real brakes but with its extremely light-weight, these disadvantages are easy to live with. And when the batteries run low, you can still propel it with kicking.

Speaking of scooters, it’s impossible to miss out the famous Vespa. These two-wheeled wonders of Italian design have enchanted Europeans since the end of 1940s, when designers Corradino D’Ascanio and Enrico Piaggio created an affordable two-wheeled vehicle for the masses. And Hollywood loves Vespa too, putting Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday and Nicole Kidman in The Interpreter on equally stylish Vespas.

Indeed, women comprise more than 60 per cent of all scooter owners. And with affordable prices – most scooters range from $800 to a $1000, while bigger and faster scooters can cost as much as $10,000 – scooters have quickly carved out their niche on today’s city road.

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We are faced with crumbling and old infrastructure. A lack of real investment in new technology and new generations of power stations has created a reduction in the ability of countries such as the United Kingdom being able to meet its energy (electricity) needs.

The need to make a quick buck has not helped either. Investors no longer invested in statutory undertaker to make a small but steady profit but tried to maximise their returns while minimising their outlay or investment. Boards of directors and compliant management along with the lure of stock options were only too eager to jump onto the bandwagon.

Electricity generating companies have no legal obligation to provide electricity and because regulators and governments do not produce electricity themselves, they cannot guarantee the future supply of electricity.

Consequentially, in countries like the United Kingdom, the planned decommissioning of older nuclear power stations is suspended indefinitely i.e. the 1,250MW Torness nuclear power station is currently set for 2023, but its operator, British Energy, is already talking about an extension to its operating life.

To ensure that the future generating capacity can meet the demand, new generating capacity and/or further energy efficiency measures will be required beyond 2010. It is estimated that British families will face an extra £700 a year on their energy bills to replace Britain’s aging power stations.

The United Kingdom imports/exports electricity from France through a 2GW high voltage direct current link under the English Channel. In 2004 the UK imported 9,784 GWh of electricity and exported 2,294 GWh.

There is also a 500 MW connection between Scotland and Northern Ireland and a 600 MW connection between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Even though renewable energy has been around for a reasonable amount of time its exorbitant price has more than often stopped most of us from pursuing its use. In 2004 3.6% of all electricity generated in the UK came from renewable energy of which 12.25% came from onshore wind farms, 1,4% from offshore wind farms and only 0.03% from photovoltaic cells. And let us not forget the inefficient use of the necessary backup gas and oil turbines being constantly throttled up and down to counter the losses and gains from wind turbines in order to balance the UK’s energy requirement.

Interestingly enough the ‘world’s leading solar power generator’ is not in sun soaked regions such as California or southern Spain. It would probably surprise you to learn that that title goes to a country whose climate is not exactly famed for its blazing sunshine and one which is not so different to Britain’s: Germany.

At the time of writing, Germany had over 300,000 solar panel systems generating over 200 times more solar energy than the United Kingdom. Within four to five years, Germany will generate as much of its electricity from solar power as the United Kingdom currently generate from nuclear (around 20%).

So while Germany actually does something concrete about renewable energy the United Kingdom’s government effectively helps the climate-industrial complex “steal” yet more money from captive consumers through steep gas and electricity prices.

In the United States the picture is just as bad. When the American Clean Energy Security act (ACES) passes it will cost the average American family $1,241 per year because as the Wall Street Journal put it, “the whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. The effect of ACES will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars.

An analysis carried out in Britain found that the average UK family is paying nearly $1,300 a year for the so-called carbon-cutting programs introduced there just a few years ago.

So, instead of pushing solar energy and helping home owners generate their own electricity the general idea in both the USA and the UK is to hike the price of electricity and gas to try to get you to use less energy. I think that this is contemptuous when those pushing these policies know that ultimately the cost of these policies will be passed onto the consumers in one way or another and that reductions in consumer spending will ultimately mean a decline in production and lead to the loss of jobs.

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School children today may wonder: why did the white South make there be the four different restrooms, one for each combination of people? Well, it did make four “water closets” available, two apiece for each sex, which admittedly allowed for somewhat easier restroom availability. But it also undermined the dignity of the American Deep South, which was thus stuck moving from the lack of fair human rights to the promotion of greater civil rights, and eventually to manifesting independent living rights. After all, the involved country was America, and being a democracy, it couldn’t long maintain such hostile acts of racial segregation – or discrimination against the physically disabled, challenged, or handicapped.

You could say that America from the 1940s through the 1980s were a time of incredible transition when it came to the full legal rights of American citizens, which included a change of focus from the racially oriented Civil Rights Movement to the ability oriented Independent Living Movement. As differing ethnic minorities received their full legal and human rights, the focus began to change when it came to what was considered to be politically expedient for different types of people.

For one thing, in the 1960s, changing racially segregated public restrooms back to the usual men’s and women’s ones was considered to be politically important, and this led to the changes in restroom stalls in the 1980s that encompassed wheelchair accessibility. This sort of thing, along with the Deep South’s municipal bus boycotts, such as the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was to enable “colored” people to get away from unnecessary referencing to skin color, and it also led to the placing of proper wheelchair lifts onto buses for the sake of the physically disabled, to enable them to finally ride the city buses. Nowadays, you can ride in your electric wheelchair in a special slot on the bus, or transfer out of your manual wheelchair and into a seat.

Uniting the public restrooms enabled people to continue their normal way of life, unhampered by racism or any presumed “need” for such segregated facilities. Plus, there was the further needed transition of the municipal city buses, where black people had been forced to sit in the far backs of the buses. As with the public restrooms, there was no need for such isolation, which at the time was being corrected by the acting Civil Rights Movement, headed by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., so that people could use most public facilities without suffering from further racial segregation. And as stated, this led to the further revamping of public facilities to make them wheelchair and disabled accessible, including full accessibility for the blind, the deaf, the elderly, the mentally challenged, and other such needed transitions.

Earlier work by the Civil Rights Movement had clearly led to these other needed transitions being made, several years later. Causing the first series of changes had obviously led to the next series of changes. The Movement had tackled universal public transportation and public access to facilities, which were also in a state of becoming more available in general as public transportation and facilities increased in number and diversity markedly over time, broadening the scope of the American service horizon.

It was thus seen that public transportation via racial segregation wasn’t required in America, and neither were racially segregated public restrooms. However, years later in the 1980s, it turned out that the people who actually needed any such “specialty” restrooms were the physically disabled. They needed special, more copious interior stalls with grab bars within them, not unduly physically segregated restrooms. The needed incredible transition was from civil rights for different racial groups to independent living rights for the disabled and the physically challenged.

It wasn’t altogether that “incredible” – when you think about it. The needed transition was for some of the restroom stalls to become wider – affording more ease and room for less ungainly wheelchair transfers. The disabled needed more room, sturdy grab bars to help them transfer, and large signs outside on the doors with the blue and white wheelchair access logos – and also Braille worded signs, such as those in front of elevators and outside rooms – for the sake of blind people as well.

And there only needed to be one “handicapped” larger stall available per restroom, not ability segregated restrooms. Although this had been proposed, it was not brought into practice – as the racial segregation that had occurred years before caused reconsideration of such segregation per ability, as well as it simply not being needed for public use of these facilities. The degree of influence of one movement upon the other is arguable, but the similarities between the two movements were more than coincidental, as both clearly involved basic legal and civil human rights.

It had actually been the paramount issues of universal wheelchair access and the universal integration of disabled access into buildings, public accommodations and housing which constituted the needed “incredible transition” from one movement to the other, as there had never been any verifiable need for racial segregation of public facilities and transportation. Instead, wheelchair and disabled access came to the forefront as issues that have become important worldwide since the 1980s, as verifiable human needs that required redress, not only as social issues that involved bigotry and discrimination, but physical access to property as well.

As a nurse aide for the disabled, I used to help people transfer from their wheelchairs to the toilets and back in public restrooms. It was part of my job. Due to moderate learning disabilities, my other everyday work skills tend to be poor. I can’t really handle waitressing, for example. But I’ve done great at writing and editing professionally for a career, and helping people in wheelchairs get through daily obstacles has been easy for me.

Wheelchair riding “shut ins” used to mostly stay home. They had nowhere they could go having wide enough doorways, smooth ramps into buildings or across roadways, prominent signs of universal wheelchair use, or major areas flat enough for wheelchair access. Even elevators took awhile to be added to most public buildings. For example, it took several decades for America’s universities to become wheelchair accessible, not to mention other buildings such as hotels, hospitals, restaurants, etc.

Added over many years, interior elevators within buildings greatly helped. Nowadays, you also see flat, wide wheelchair ramps everywhere. This makes life easier for all kinds of people, including those using crutches, canes, walkers, baby strollers and bicycles. It’s really quite wonderful.

Exterior concrete stairways were once a large part of what kept people out of many buildings, rendering them unable to go in. The 1970s were not a “Stairway to Heaven” for most people with physical disabilities, and exterior stairways into buildings were a major hassle. But we’re learning, and now we have long exterior tiered concrete ramps laid out in a “switchback” manner, enabling disabled entry to most public buildings. Nowadays you can go to college and attend all your classes, thanks to disabled access such as ramps, elevators and note takers for the blind.

Meanwhile, “colored” and “white” colleges have also been opening their doors to each other, as the USA and the free world begins a phase of politics which we’re still entering, one where you might get to go exactly where you please, and do whatever you want to do – within reason. But the days of yore, where you couldn’t always do so, were intriguing in their own way, although I’m glad those days are almost entirely gone.

Weirdly enough, there were a few good events, fantastical as it may seem, that happened under the loosening ties of racial segregation. For example, there were great “colored” ball teams, and also some well run and hospitably owned “colored” managed hotels and motels. They hired black workers, which occasionally involved better work situations than similar white run positions. This was unfortunate, as black people weren’t allowed to stay in or work at the white people hotels and motels.

Having to contemplate the meanings of the word “colored” and “black” was also involved as a social issue for certain famous such people, who promoted civil rights as their primary political cause. Colorful and lively is what they were often forced to become, in order to help their kind of people become more welcome in American society as they sojourned the road away from black and white racial segregation. The arts, music and theater gained from the addition of remarkable talent from these hallmarks of American and world society, who felt they had to prove themselves in a world which was capable of killing, hampering or incarcerating people solely due to their skin color not being “white.”

Racial segregation was definitely the road to extreme enforced injustice as the only alternative for not granting people their full civil, legal and human rights, so these culturally important people, Americans – such as Malcolm X and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., among many others – wanted to make sure their attainments were not in vain, and that they taught people racial equality was real and not merely a “dream.” They wanted to make this “incredible transition” happen, which came to pass also through the disability rights movement and wheelchair accessibility, and to change the basically “white” people image of overall American society.

Internment, concentration – and finally death – camps are the strongest and most likely images I come up with when I reflect on how things would have ended up under continuing American racial segregation in the Deep South. Curfews, separate areas of town to live in, and enforced places to go at restaurants, restrooms and theaters imply the kind of incarceration that leads to actual internment, concentration and even death camps, such as the huge ones instituted by the Nazis, the Chinese and the Russians.

What ridiculous, gigantic monstrosities have gone worldwide since the “shackles” of such depravity were rooted in the originally enforced life on our Native American “Indian” reservations? Adolph Hitler blamed the Nazi concentration camps on those isolate places, although supposedly they were also styled after Joseph Stalin’s similar Russian camps in the Ukraine and Siberia. Horrifyingly, there seems now to be a major internment camp, possibly for the mentally disabled, being built – or which is now completed – in America’s own State of Alaska, and there are similar internment camps in outlying areas of the United States as well. The Hurricane Katrina victims have been placed into similar camps, which brings up newer issues of racial segregation again – as many of that awful hurricane’s victims were once black or colored residents of New Orleans, Louisiana – the USA.

Overt racial cleansing has swelled out from our country and others in many a secretively torturous way. And it has not been so long since black people here in America were forced to sit in the back of city buses. Recently, a white school bus driver tried to illegally force black children to once again sit in the backs of school buses. Fortunately, he was caught and stopped before this tactic became widespread. But many decades ago, it took the Civil Rights Movement to get black people out of the backs of those buses, where they were being forced to sit against their will, giving up their chosen seats to white people.

Nobody likes to sit in the back of the bus forever. It was one of the better strategic moves in American history to end that. Some folks want to “keep on trucking” and serve humanity in similar ways, working jobs that involve helping others. But many of these great careers require major university degrees, which as you know can be difficult to pay for nowadays. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get such a job with only a high school diploma?

Say, would you like a job that involves no prior experience? It doesn’t pay too well, maybe enough to get by. It’s called being a “personal care attendant” for the disabled, and I’ve been one for black, brown and white people. You don’t have to be a trained nurse, and open positions are listed under Home Health Care in the newspapers. If you take this job, which often only involves part time work, you may also experience the salutary effect of enjoying working for the civil rights of people with disabilities. You may also get free meals and a roof over your head by working this job. But without the proper implementation of universal wheelchair access, you won’t be able to get out much and enjoy life to the fullest.

Therefore, I want to help get the word out with this article about municipal buses and other such needed vehicles being outfitted with reasonably made wheelchair lifts. This involves various programs and accessibility issues – happening all over the modern world. Those white, black and brown people (upholding their full legal and civil rights – regardless of skin color or other personal characteristics) in manual and electric wheelchairs, and other such vehicles of personal conveyance such as scooters and gurneys, need to be able to get on buses and other public transportation, like trains, boats and ships, and airplanes, not to mention their also needing to be able to freely access wheelchair access compliant parking spaces, hotel rooms, apartments, houses, other buildings, restrooms, etc.

Basically, total wheelchair access is the modern goal of the Movement nowadays, now that the transition has been made from civil rights to disability rights. Rather than ending civil rights, it simply expands them. Hopefully, someday wheelchair access will be made part of the standard legal building codes of houses everywhere on the face of the planet. And nearly everywhere you park now, you see the sign for wheelchair access in many parking spaces, plus wheelchair ramps available on nearly every street corner and around the front access of all public buildings.

Sooner or later, if we live long enough we will all be physically disabled, no matter our skin color or other characteristics, due to old age and its subsequent debilitations. Thus we will all need the incredible transition from the Civil Rights Movement to the Independent Living Movement, with both movements covering as much as possible of the full scope of our American and worldwide legal, civil and human rights – no matter whom we might ever actually be, or finally ever eventually become.

Electric Vehicles | Street Legal Electric Vehicles | Street Legal Electric Cars

The Zenn automobile is an electric car made in Canada with sales of 200 cars in the USA for 2007.

The Zenn gets the equivalent of 245mpg and costs $12750-17600 if you are lucky enough to live where it’s approved for purchase.

Currently it cost approximately 80% less to fuel up your Zenn than a traditional car. This leads to less green house gas production and if your power is nuclear even less green house gases are produced. Along with the environmental benefits this car reduces dependency on middle eastern oil.

This car is made in Canada yet only British Columbia has made it legal to sell in Canada. Which is an almost unthinkable reality for Quebec where it is actually produced, as the CEO Ian Clifford laments. I’m sure Mr Clifford is thinking of moving to another country to set up production every time he is forced to fill up his gas powered car in Canada. George Bush’s and local state legislature’s policies on the environment appear to be putting Canada’s and Quebec’s to shame.

Currently this car is classified as a NEV, ‘Neighborhood Electric Vehicle’ so it has speed limitations imposed on it of 25-35mph by law and is meant for slower speed neighborhoods or inner city areas with lots of traffic. There is a kit available online to reprogram the limit if you want a little extra and are willing to chance it. They hope to have a highway capable version out in 2009 and hopefully law makers will get behind them and raise their limits of 25-35mph to something a little more practical for city driving, 40-45mph would be plenty for the city where we often average 20mph or less in traffic. Why they aren’t allowed to drive as fast as a scooter boggles my mind, it’s infinitely more safe.

With most people using their cars for short trips of less than 40 miles this is looking like a practical alternative, or perhaps used as a second car for each household for shorter commutes. With the price of gas increasing every month I look forward to plugging my car in for a fill up using local coal or nuclear power, saving the environment, saving money and bringing the troops home, and then hopefully achieving some Zen.

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Scania, the third largest producer of trucks and buses recently announced that they will be testing their hybrid buses in cooperation with Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, the regional public transport system in Stockholm. The large-scale testing will begin next year and will last for approximately one whole year at the least. The design of the hybrid bus is already prepared and a prototype may be produced by as early as May this year.

The Swedish bus manufacturer has acquired the support of the Swedish Energy Agency which has provided more than SEK 16 million to the hybrid project. The truck and bus manufacturer known for prioritizing the fuel efficiency of their trucks already has the technology to further decrease the fuel consumption of their buses by as much as 25 percent or even more. This kind of efficiency is similar to the efficiency of an EBC brake pad in stopping a car safely.

The use of the hybrid buses on the city streets of Stockholm will increase the popularity of Scania as a producer of environment friendly vehicles. “Carbon dioxide emissions from traffic can be reduced by lowering fuel consumption and transitioning to renewable vehicle fuels,” said Hasse Johansson, the Head of Research and Development for Scania.

The hybrid capability of the Scania buses will be the perfect solution for fuel consumption issues that arises during city driving where numerous stops are being made. It is known that hybrid vehicles are made for this type of driving and this is where they show their unique advantage over conventional fuel-powered engines. What makes hybrid vehicles a fuel efficient vehicle is that during idling or low speeds, the engine takes a break and lets the electric motor carry the load. The non-use of the engine during idling greatly reduces the amount of emissions being given off by the vehicle. Aside from that fact, the Scania buses will also run on alternative fuel which is a clean burning fuel.

These facts are emphasized by Johansson in his statement: “Scania combines reduced fuel consumption with renewable fuel in its hybrid technology. This technology is expected to save at least 25 percent fuel. The engine- a high-efficiency diesel engine- is powered by ethanol, a renewable fuel. The technology is robust and dimensioned to last for the normal service life of the bus. We regard this as an optimal combination for city traffic, with its constant stopping and acceleration”.

The efforts being made by automotive companies like Scania is commendable for they now are offering new ways to travel without having to worry about the impact of the vehicle on the environment. With developments such as this, the future of mass transportation on land looks brighter and cleaner too. The continuing efforts by manufacturers and other companies in the development of alternative fuels and other technology to be used on automobiles will only be to the benefit of the entire global community. The study being made in the fields of alternative energy, just like what Scania has done, will likely lead to the development of technologies which will bring down the production costs of hybrid buses, trucks, and cars. You see, when the production cost is reduced, more and more hybrid vehicles will be made available for the public.

In conclusion, Johansson stated that: “In a longer perspective, innovations such as hybrid drive will help us to meet stricter environmental targets for city traffic. Even today, however, we can take a major step towards lowering the environment impact of public transport by operating on such renewable fuels as ethanol and rapeseed methyl ester (RME).”

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Many people love the freedom of riding a motorcycle as well as the economical value it offers, especially now with fuel costs at an all time high. However, some people just aren’t comfortable operating a motorcycle. A great alternative is to choose an electric scooter. They are also very economically as well as easy to operate. This is a great option for riding around town. I know many parents who compromise purchasing their teenager a scooter rather than an actual motorcycle. Scooters also cost less than a motorcycle.

Safety is still a necessity while operating an electric scooter. It is important that you wear a helmet as well as long sleeved shirts and pants to prevent road rash. You also need to follow the rules of the road. Too many people have the misconception that a scooter can be operated like a bicycle rather than a motor vehicle on the road. In many states you have to obtain a motorcycle license to legally operate one on the street. Children must be the legal age to drive one as determined by their state regulations.

Electric scooters are frequently referred to as mopeds as well. They are very environmentally friendly so you don’t have to worry about pollution issues. Many of the features on these scooters are similar to those of a motorcycle including the seat, brakes, tires, and turn signals. While scooters are definitely easier to learn to ride, they won’t offer you the same speed as a motorcycle. Don’t expect to get on one and take off like the wind. You also won’t want to ride them on the highway or interstate as they just aren’t designed for that type of speed or travel.

Depending on the type of electric scooter you purchase, you can anticipate spending from $200 to $1,000. The prices are very reasonable, so that your time finding one that fits you perfectly. There are many styles and colors available from a variety of manufacturers. Many women love operating a scooter as opposed to a motorcycle because of the weight difference.

You will also find scooters that feature a stand up or a sit down design. The younger kids definitely seem to favor the stand up type but it certainly isn’t going to be comfortable when you are on it for a length of time. You also won’t have the storage space if you need to carry anything with you.

Most electric scooters require very little maintenence, further adding to your transportation savings. In most cases you will be able to do the basic maintenance and even repairs on your own. You may be wondering how fuel efficient an electric scooter is. While the specific savings will vary by model, many of them can get 60 miles per gallon of fuel.

Since electric scooters don’t take up much space and they are light weight, may college kids prefer to use one instead of a car. They can even ride it around campus and secure it on the bike rack. Most of them can get up to 30 MPH so a quick trip to town or the grocery store is even possible with one.

Electric scooters have continued to grow in popularity in areas where the fuel is high and the weather is nice most of the year. Consumers are looking for an economical means of transportation and they have found in with electric scooters. You can find a great deal of information about them on the internet as well as motorcycle and electric stores.

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