Unintended Consequences -- Airbags and Babies

 Airbags in cars are a good thing, right?  They save lives.  The U.S. National Highway Safety Administration estimates that out of over three million airbag deployments from 1990 to 2000, some sixty-four hundred lives have been saved by the little poofy pushback pillows.  And they figure countless injuries have been prevented.  So all good, right?  Airbags are the greatest invention since the waffle iron, or lip gloss, or monkey bars.

Well not, exactly.

Protecting The Evironment Can Kill You

An ambulance in Washington D.C., last Wednesday, carrying a gunshot victum shut down automatically on I-295 and could not be restarted. 

The cause of the vehicle stall was an EPA mandated device meant to reduce diesel emissions.  If the emissions toxicity gets too high warning lights start blinking and if not corrected, the device turns off the engine. 

Another ambulance was dispatched to offload the passenger from the disabled vehicle, but that caused a delay.  The injured person, Nathaniel McRae, 34, who was shot by D.C. police, was dead  by the time the second ambulance arrived at Howard University Hospital.