# "Safety features" that impede functionality **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 1, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955 "2011-06-01T14:13:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/61 "2011-06-02T15:27:33Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Seriously? Everyone I know disables the dead man switch on their push mower. Everyone. I have not. I spent a lot of time pushing mowers back in the day when they didn’t have dead man switches. They are an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/62 "2011-06-02T15:35:40Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I mow about two acres of yard each week. I also mow 40 acres of horse pasture twice yearly. I’ve found your problem. You’re using a mower. You should be using sheep. Tasty, automatic lawn mowing, and no safety features. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/63 "2011-06-02T15:37:00Z")
Toyota apparently thought that Prius drivers are too stupid to know when they’re moving backwards, so they put in a feature that gives out repeated electronic beeps when in reverse. Inside the car, not outside. Luckily, the dealer mechanic was able to disable the feature so that it only beeps once now. I still haven’t figured out why they think it’s necessary in the first place. After many years in the construction business, I can tell you that people will go to extraordinary lengths to defeat safety devices. In fact, usually the first things to disappear are the guards on table saws. It would take a warning for disciplinary action to make them leave the damn things alone. Also, “dead-man switches” are called that for a reason. Count me as someone who has never disabled one. Additionally, the interlock switch on bladed power tools is one of the best improvements to come along. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/64 "2011-06-02T15:41:49Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > I’ve found your problem. You’re using a mower. You should be using sheep. Tasty, automatic lawn mowing, and no safety features. Meh. We actually considered goats for when the horses are gone (one is old, the other has a home lined up for when his buddy dies), but people I know who have goats have dissuaded us. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/65 "2011-06-02T16:00:45Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > “Driving” a car, I’m referring to hooking up a boat trailer parked on my property. I back the truck up in the general direction of the trailer and hop out to check position. Back in, pull forward and to the left a few feet, hop back out and look. Back up slowly a foot, hop out. Back in, back up six inches and slightly to the right, hop out. Back in. . .etc. Fuck if I’m putting my seat belt on/off each time while never having my speed register on the speedometer. So I keep an old male end of a seatbelt in the truck just for this purpose, or I disengage the buzzer. My actual WTF with this is that I can’t imagine a universe where the seatbelt “bing bing bing” was annoying enough to warrant ANY effort at removing it from my consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/66 "2011-06-02T16:02:12Z")
I’m with you all the way kayaker. How about ‘safety’ features that make the operation of something more dangerous? Had a **rear** wheel drive lawnmower once. Nothing special. Not a riding tractor or anything (never buy a rear wheel drive ‘push’ mower) It had that stupid lever that you had to clutch to the handle to keep the wheels engaged and engine running. Well, what the hell are you supposed to do if and when you need to pull the mower backwards? You can’t really let the lever out a little bit to disengage the power drive while simultaneously pulling back on the handle. And you sure as shit don’t want to kill the engine every time you want to pull it backwards a bit. It was ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/67 "2011-06-02T16:10:44Z")
One minor safety feature I want to gripe about. Public message boards rely on databases. (This is almost a tautology.) Public web sites need to defend against denial of service / resource depletion attacks. (I remember when “bringing down a site” consisted of calling up the sysadmin and sucking them into a 2-hour discussion over whether the Web could possibly replace Gopher.) The relevant DoS/RD concern for my post is multiple rapid database queries. I recognize and appreciate the need to make sure the database engine isn’t brought down by handling so many searches that it can’t support the message board. So a safety feature of enforcing a pause between searches from a given client makes sense. However, the functionality of a search is such that, if I don’t find what I’m looking for the first time, I’m going to refine, expand, or otherwise change my search parameters. And I then want to run the new search right then, not several minutes later when I’ve lost interest and ooh shiny, I’m reading SlashDot and forgot all about whatever I was searching for now that I’m following this article about Apple’s restrictions on bulk purchases for promotional iPads and where was I? No, I am not ranting about the SDMB, otherwise I’d bring this up in ATMB (and get whacked with a trout and referred to the frumpteen prior threads on the question). I’m ranting about ANOTHER message board that runs on vBB. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/68 "2011-06-02T16:24:40Z")
Well, I can tell you that opening a bottle with a safety cap one handed because your other hand is in a cast and while you are screaming in agony is not one of life’s better experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/69 "2011-06-02T16:25:00Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I’m with you all the way kayaker. > > How about ‘safety’ features that make the operation of something more dangerous? > > Had a **rear** wheel drive lawnmower once. Nothing special. Not a riding tractor or anything (never buy a rear wheel drive ‘push’ mower) > It had that stupid lever that you had to clutch to the handle to keep the wheels engaged and engine running. Well, what the hell are you supposed to do if and when you need to pull the mower backwards? You can’t really let the lever out a little bit to disengage the power drive while simultaneously pulling back on the handle. And you sure as shit don’t want to kill the engine every time you want to pull it backwards a bit. It was ridiculous. The last mower I used that had a lever to enable assist worked so that you could let go of the deadman switch for a half second, which would kill the engine and drive, and then reengage the switch while the rotational motion was enough to bring the engine to life. Nowadays, the mower I use has a fancy “the harder you push the faster it goes” thingy. Also - are you people who refuse to kill the mower for a 15 second job unable to restart it when hot? Because it took half a pull on the old mower to restart it after it had been running a while (on a clear-ish surface, not in deep grass), as opposed to taking forever to start it when cold. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/70 "2011-06-02T16:31:22Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > Also - are you people who refuse to kill the mower for a 15 second job unable to restart it when hot? Because it took half a pull on the old mower to restart it after it had been running a while (on a clear-ish surface, not in deep grass), as opposed to taking forever to start it when cold. (Re)Starts on the first pull, just don’t see why I should have to pull when there is an easy work around. Plus, in addition to the pile of dogshit I’m moving there are brief breaks to drink the rest of my beer before it is tepid, a break to check my cellphone for an important call I’m expecting, etc. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/71 "2011-06-02T16:36:08Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Seriously? Everyone I know disables the dead man switch on their push mower. Everyone. I don’t either, and I’ve never seen it done by any of my neighbors. I didn’t even really think of that option, tbh. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/72 "2011-06-02T16:37:49Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > The one I get annoyed by is the “feature” in newer cars that locks all the doors once you get up past a certain speed. Dammit, there are no kids in my family. No kids will be riding in my car. I don’t need my nanny-car locking me in (this is particularly annoying when I’m a passenger and don’t notice it, so the car stops, I pull the latch to get out, and nothing happens). > > I want the “no kid switch” on cars so you can turn off all the kiddie features. That would drive me insane (and I would work VERY hard to get it disabled). I normally lock all my doors when I’m driving, but the one I want to get out of unlocks as soon as I tug on the handle - no inconvenience at all. > [@MrDibble](#): > > I think that’s more of an anti-hijack feature than a kid safety feature. If you can’t unlock the doors from the inside just by trying to open it normally, it’s a kid safety “feature” (ironic quotes because that ain’t no feature to me). > [@Ultraviolet](#): > > Check at your local Shoppers Drug Mart (you’re in Canada, right?). I got a big bottle of Tylenol Rapid Release there with the “arthritis friendly” top that just screws off - no annoying child safety features. Good idea! I will look there directly. > [@jjimm](#): > > Try a car that goes “bing bing bing” when you exceed the maximum speed limit of the country you’re in. Observed in Japan and Singapore - and in Japan it was the maximum _highway_ speed so if you were on the freeway it went off constantly. No, thanks, I’d really prefer not to. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/73 "2011-06-02T16:50:13Z")
> [@2gigch1](#): > > Now if we could get one that vaporizes clippings instead of bags them I would be golden, but that hasn’t hit the shelves yet. Our new mower is a mulcher - assuming I don’t wait to long in nagging a kid to mow, the clippings are fine enough that they just drop down into the sod (well, weeds if I’m honest). Going into year three and it’s not working quite as well - may need to get the blade sharpened. Major bonus is no more leaf-raking - have to go slow, but it pulverizes those suckers, and returns those nutrients back to the soil from which they came. Which is also true of your grass clippings - you’re bagging up and discarding a lot of the fertilizer you’re spreading each spring/fall. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/74 "2011-06-02T17:02:45Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Meh. We actually considered goats for when the horses are gone (one is old, the other has a home lined up for when his buddy dies), but people I know who have goats have dissuaded us. 😃 Sheep are better than goats, way less smart so they are not quite the pain in the ass goats are. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/75 "2011-06-02T17:16:58Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Sheep are better than goats, way less smart so they are not quite the pain in the ass goats are. But, when we were seriously considering getting goats a big part of it was taste. I’ll eat goat of any age. Sheep are a different story. I love lamb, but not mutton. Then my gf started thinking about the actual process of slaughtering lambs or taking them to be slaughtered and that was the end of that discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/76 "2011-06-02T17:40:18Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > You make a good point. > > I got my hands on a bottle of ibuprofen that has a big, easy turn cap for arthritic people, and I refill it and use it exclusively now. If I could just find one like that for my tylenol… Here’s what you do. You get another big bottle of ibuprofen with the easy turn cap. Then you empty the ibuprofen into your other big bottle, and use the now-empty ibuprofen bottle for your Tylenol. You could even get a bottle of Nature Made vitamins. I’ve got some vitamin C tablets in a big flip-open top container. No unscrewing at all. They can presumably do this because overdosing on vitamin C isn’t particularly dangerous. You could get one of those, and use it for your Tylenol. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/77 "2011-06-02T17:47:45Z")
> [@xenophon41](#): > > Bottom line is, if common safety features are such nuisances they disrupt your ability to do a job, you’ might not be doing the job as cleverly as you think you are. Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/78 "2011-06-02T17:48:14Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > (Re)Starts on the first pull, just don’t see why I should have to pull when there is an easy work around. Because it’s exceedingly difficult to design a dead-man switch that knows when you _intend_ to let go of the mower and have it keep running. It’s not particularly dangerous to leave the mower running on a flat surface while you pick up some dogshit, but then that’s not the situation it was intended for. Back in the '80’s my parents had a mower that didn’t have a dead-man switch. I was using it to mow a neighbor’s yard once when I backed up and accidentally stepped off of a four-foot-tall retaining wall, pulling the lawn mower down after me. It was blind luck that the mower landed upside down next to me (instead of right-side up on top of me). It was still running. You are seriously lazy if you are complaining about having to pull-start the engine after picking up some dogshit. The cost of indulging that laziness is that you are foregoing protection in the case of adverse incidents like the one I described above. Similar to someone who eschews insurance, you are wagering that such an incident will not happen to you. Statistically, it probably won’t - but if it does, it may be very costly for you. > [@kayaker](#): > > Plus, in addition to the pile of dogshit I’m moving there are brief breaks to drink the rest of my beer before it is tepid… Drinking while using power tools? OK, we’re all learning more about your mindset with regard to risk management. > [@kayaker](#): > > a break to check my cellphone for an important call I’m expecting… You can’t do this with one hand? Or wait until your call comes in before you start mowing the lawn? Or - God forbid - shut the engine down, check your cell, and then raise your aching, overworked, arthritic arm to pull with all your might and get that pain-in-the-ass engine started again? ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/79 "2011-06-02T17:58:56Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > This is also the first step on the Ruger Mark III (though I haven’t done it to mine yet). Those weapons are already the devil to get apart for cleaning, so much so that there are people that have never cleaned them. With the magazine safety it adds a few more steps to an already ridiculously difficult chore. My advice: get a used Mark II and don’t worry about it, or put Mark II parts in it and forget about it. Oh god yes! I was going to post about this particular gun when I read **Scumpup** ’s first post at work last night but I didn’t want to use my phone to post. I had a Mark II target model that I loved. To disassemble you removed the clip, pull the slide back to check that the chamber was empty, point it down and pull the trigger so the hammer falls forward, flip a lever, pull a pin and the gun comes apart in 4 pieces for easy cleaning. I got so I could pop it apart and put it back together in a minute or so. I got rid of it when my kids were young for some reason I don’t recall. When the kids grew up they bought me a Mark III for Xmas to replace it, yeah! With the magazine safety you need to insert the clip into the gun before you can perform the part where you pull the trigger to get the hammer to fall foward to disassemble. That’s right! Someone’s idea of a safer way to disassemble a weapon to clean it is to _put the part that holds the bullets back into the gun and pull the trigger_! Of course you are supposed to use an **empty** clip. The logic of inserting the part that holds the ammo into the gun, twice I think, and pulling the trigger, to safely prepare your gun for cleaning just boggles my mind! I am not able to comprehend why this is safer!?!. Stupidty designed by a committee of lawyers would be my guess. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955/80 "2011-06-02T18:05:48Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Is anyone else frustrated by new vehicle headrests? They’ve passed the point of functionality into pure misery, by trying to contort the driver into a position that (I assume) protects from whiplash. Personally, driving in a position with my neck bent forward is too tiring to be safe. I checked with a few upholstery shops about reshaping the headrests in my truck, but they were too leery of lawsuits. So I just removed them until I can get a good pipe-bender to change the angle. > > If I wanted that much safety, I’d stay at home. I certainly noticed it in my new car AFTER we bought it. Why I didn’t notice it on the test drive I have no idea. I have to sit straight up; my back feels better when I do. With the headrest in any position at all, I’m looking down, not forward! We took off the headrest and reversed it, so that the flat part is in front and the rounded part faces back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safety-features-that-impede-functionality/583955.md?page=5)