Whenever I see minivans, I think kids.
Does anyone else think videos like this don't belong on Videosift? Go to liveleak for your morbid fix.

It's more like a minivan than a car with it's seating capacity. That is amazing. Then again, you'd expect amazing for an unobtainable $100k.

It looks from the back like he's masturbating behind someone's minivan. lol

I totally agree. The trucker didn't deserve the honk at the end, which shows how unaware the driver with the dash cam was. Both car drivers in this vid were driving to hurried and close, the jerk in the minivan being the most dangerous.

>> ^Nexxus:

I'll be honest, I don't see anything wrong with his driving. He followed his lane markings while the camera car's lane just ended. Then he overtook the slower truck and while trying to get back in the slow lane, the jerk in the SUV made things very difficult for him and he had to jam on the brakes. If anything, the SUV is at fault here for dangerous driving.

I don't understand why so many people are terrified of guns. They simply aren't scary. Up until the early 1900's, almost every family living in the US had a gun in the house. The United States wouldn't even exist if the colonials hadn't hidden and stockpiled their gun from the British as that was the first thing the British did when moving into a new town.....confiscating the guns. This emasculated the men, most volunteer "soldiers", and made revolt much less likely and population control much more manageable.

The 2nd amendment was created not for hunting or for sport, but for the civil defense of our citizens against tyranny and control. The authors of the constitution remembered how hard it was having weapons removed by government control and wanted to have measure in place to allow citizens to legally carry arms to defend themselves against similar actions in the future. It is a very empowering right.

In 2008, there were 75 deaths by firearm of children aged 1-15, 24 of which were actually suicides that were included in that gun death total. By contrast, 1,543 children of that same age group were killed in moving vehicle accidents and 735 by drowning. Therefore, we should be SIGNIFICANTLY more afraid of cars and pools than of guns by a wide margin, yet we don't have people calling the police because some kids are in a swimming pool or riding in a car.

Every male in Switzerland has a government issued semi-auto rifle. Literally every one (420,000+), yet they have some of the lowest crime rates in the entire world.

"Police statistics for the year 2006 records 34 killings or attempted killings involving firearms, compared to 69 cases involving bladed weapons and 16 cases of unarmed assault. Cases of assault resulting in bodily harm numbered 89 (firearms) and 526 (bladed weapons). As of 2007, Switzerland had a population of about 7,600,000. This would put the rate of killings or attempted killings with firearms at about one for every quarter million residents yearly. This represents a decline of aggravated assaults involving firearms since the early 1990s. The majority of gun crimes involving domestic violence are perpetrated with army ordnance weapons, while the majority of gun crime outside the domestic sphere involves illegally held firearms." - Wikipedia (of course)

My point is that guns are not inherently dangerous, significantly less in fact than a car or water statistically speaking. Having an armed society is a very good thing. Fearing people with guns only gives the gun power that it wouldn't have otherwise. Yes, there are shitty people out there doing bad things with guns, but I am more afraid of the distracted soccer mom in her minivan talking on the phone while beating her kids in the backseat while jugging a Starbucks latte driving 10 MPH over the limit (which I see all the time) than anyone carrying a gun. A good percentage of armed robberies aren't even committed with real guns, but the power that people without solid gun knowledge gives those guns, even fake, is what makes them dangerous.

Also, just an FYI, there are over 270,000,000 guns held by private citizens in this country yet 14,000 murders were committed by guns in 2010, and gun crime is down 11% since that time. That is a very low number of firearm murders considering how many guns are actually out there.

I am climbing off my soapbox now.

>> ^hpqp:

Answer: no.
(also: what a ripoff of the Smart).


And every minivan is a ripoff of the VW Microbus...whatever.

I was recently in the market for a car and I looked at the Scion iQ and gave it a test drive. It was actually pretty cool and unique, and better than the Smart in almost every way conceivable (I've also driven a Smart). Here's the catch, it's billed as a city car, so it has a crappy CVT Transmission. As well as No cruise control, I cannot have a car without cruise control and this didn't even give the option.

Toyota will get my money when they bring the TOYOTA iQ over from Europe...not some crappy ripoff with bigger wheels.

>> ^CheshireSmile:

my friend's first car, a minivan, was hit by other people 3 times. he was not in the car any of those times. he would just walk out to it to leave and see a brand new dent, or his bumper fell off.


Sounds like my life...every few months there's a new door ding or dent. And every time I wash my car I am forced to realize how many times this has happened.

my friend's first car, a minivan, was hit by other people 3 times. he was not in the car any of those times. he would just walk out to it to leave and see a brand new dent, or his bumper fell off.

After appearing briefly in cameo's such as 'blowing holes through your bedroom wall' and 'I'm in ur minivan' the cannonball, affectionately known as 'The Juggernaut' has decided to retire, bitch.

It's all fun and games until somebody loses a minivan.

What it looks like is that the minivan driver wasn't paying any sort of attention to oncoming traffic, green light or not. There's nothing obstructing his view, in fact the car going the same direction as the ambulance sees it behind him and stops. Ambulances slow down at red lights usually for the cross traffic that may not see them. It's a rare day when they get clipped by someone making a left turn in front of them. You would think they would see a van with flashing lights screaming towards them.
>> ^solecist:

>> ^Trancecoach:
Can't imagine what was so important for that minivan to get in the way of the ambulance which I presume was in the midst of a call, sirens on and everything.
That kind of selfishness is really appalling.

ugh, how selfish of them. they wanted to crash so badly that they pulled out in front of an ambulance!
or, from a non-insane perspective, it looks like the driver of the van didn't see the ambulance in time while turning during a green light. even ambulances are supposed to slow down at red lights, to make sure that nearby drivers are aware of their presence before crossing. does it really look like the driver of the van was making a mad berserker dash across the path of the ambulance in an attempt to save precious time?

It appears that the minivan breaks in advance of the ambulance and then proceeds to accelerate through the intersection. Sure, the ambulance might have slowed down before going through the red light, but according to reports, the ambulance was on its way to hospital with a 7-month-old baby and his parents and medical crew on board.

>> ^solecist:

>> ^Trancecoach:
Can't imagine what was so important for that minivan to get in the way of the ambulance which I presume was in the midst of a call, sirens on and everything.
That kind of selfishness is really appalling.

ugh, how selfish of them. they wanted to crash so badly that they pulled out in front of an ambulance!
or, from a non-insane perspective, it looks like the driver of the van didn't see the ambulance in time while turning during a green light. even ambulances are supposed to slow down at red lights, to make sure that nearby drivers are aware of their presence before crossing. does it really look like the driver of the van was making a mad berserker dash across the path of the ambulance in an attempt to save precious time?

>> ^Trancecoach:

Can't imagine what was so important for that minivan to get in the way of the ambulance which I presume was in the midst of a call, sirens on and everything.
That kind of selfishness is really appalling.


ugh, how selfish of them. they wanted to crash so badly that they pulled out in front of an ambulance!

or, from a non-insane perspective, it looks like the driver of the van didn't see the ambulance in time while turning during a green light. even ambulances are supposed to slow down at red lights, to make sure that nearby drivers are aware of their presence before crossing. does it really look like the driver of the van was making a mad berserker dash across the path of the ambulance in an attempt to save precious time?

Can't imagine what was so important for that minivan to get in the way of the ambulance which I presume was in the midst of a call, sirens on and everything.

That kind of selfishness is really appalling.

@NetRunner, you have to understand also, I'm completely in favor of people having living wages and benefits. I think too often businesses take advantage of their workers. So we're in agreement. We're just not in agreement how we arrive there.

Unfortunately with the amount of protectionism currently in place so many industries are forcing entrepreneurs out by making it difficult to compete against those companies already rooted in the industry (strict regulations, licensing, permits, taxes, and so on), and as a result competing is too expensive so the number of workers go up while the number of job creators goes down. Soon we'll all be working for Corporations.

That's what people like me want to stop. We won't change this trajectory by going down the same path we've been going down for the last hundred years. We have to face the facts that politicians are more willing to give attention to those with deep pockets than those with barely two nickels to rub together. The rich will always prevail within a human government, and no amount of legislation will change that. It hasn't in the past, and it won't in the future.

Just in case you require examples of protectionism that stifles competition, I have a great many. The recent banking coup is a good place to start. A lot of small and midlevel banks closed after the bailouts (WaMu! Fucking WaMu closed!), so now the big banks no longer have to compete against hundreds of banks. This was by design.

After prohibition the government forced a three tiered system onto the alcohol industry which keeps the two major beer manufacturers on top while the smaller brewers are being edged out. On even smaller levels, a lot of small businesses use government to keep new competitors out by pushing licensing and other expensive requirements onto new businesses. This happens often for hair salons, florists, casket manufacturing, and just about every small business industry in America. NY public transit union recently sought legal injunctions against local businessmen who offer cheap minivan rides throughout the city for much less than what the Metro can offer.

Lastly, look at the film industry. It's a mess. The unions and corporations have made it extremely difficult for independent filmmakers to shoot a film and have it distributed (though the internet is changing things a bit). And the cost of production in Los Angeles is through the roof, because of union fees, permit costs, etc. If you choose to use union actors for a non-union film you could face a pricey lawsuit. And not to mention how difficult it is for those who want to join the unions, with catch 22 rules like, "You must work 200 hours on a union film set to be admitted into the union, but you can't work on a union film shoot unless you're in the union." Funny how people still manage to get in.