In Europe, a half-blind 80-year-old in a 25-year-old Clio is considered safer than a Cybertruck.
I spent today driving one around the Bay with my friend
@brivael , who’s based in France. He came over and within a few hours we’d accidentally compiled a list of things that are completely normal here and literally illegal back home.
Start with the truck we were in. The Cybertruck is banned from European roads. Judged too dangerous. This is a vehicle with emergency braking, driver-attention monitoring, and active safety systems most cars will never have. But sure, the Clio passes.
Tesla’s Full Self Driving? Illegal in France. Here you turn it on and it takes full control, changes lanes, overtakes, drives the speed you ask it to (love the MadMax mode). The driver is treated as a sovereign adult who carries the responsibility. In Europe you are assumed incompetent by default.
Want a custom license plate? Go for it, as long as the combination is unique. Normal in tons of countries. In France, apparently fun itself needs a permit.
Later we grabbed a drink up north, sitting by the water next to a fire pit, flames going, perfect evening. Then I remembered: outdoor heating is banned in France. Not just gas. Electric too, in a country running on low-carbon nuclear. Banned anyway.
And the whole day we talked freely about everything and anything. Free speech is written directly into the American constitution.
One country trusts you to be an adult. The other writes a rule for every possible version of you that might not be.
Should I file a request with some unelected DSA enforcer in Brussels before I’m allowed to publish this post?