This is the perfect take, because it taps into things people think they believe, while ignoring things like facts.

Whatever you say

Totally get it.  Bad habits are a tough bitch.

And the interlock can certainly break as well.  But if yours works, it doesn’t take long to get into the habit of realizing you need to push in the clutch, and once you get in the habit you’re unlikely to break the habit.

I’ve had cars with this issue as well, but as you say once you get used to using your clutch to start your car yo’ure not apt to forget :)

Indeed this is what I do. I try not to let the engine do too much of the work of slowing, but I do try to always be in a workable gear until stopped in case I need to use it. I can think of two times I’ve kind of used it (both times people not paying attention, one coming up behind me not realizing the light was red,…

Assuming you have a modern car, there is a lockout where you can’t engage the starter without the clutch depressed, so ther’es not much risk to accidentally launching anything, if that’s what you mean. Once the clutch is in, I would hope it would be second nature to make sure you were in neutral before releasing it,…

Counterpoint -- opening a door is also not hard.

There’s also increased safety standards and guidelines that make the bar to creating something like this much higher -- not that we wouldn’t do something dangerous, but when there are alternatives as you suggest, why risk it (aside from coolness factor)?

The thing about three ring binders and spiral notebooks is you could just write on the “back” of every page and be fine (I mean, smudging issues obviously but that’s independent of the rings)

What I want to know is do you have a good story that sounds like bullshit but you swear is true?

My mother had her hands hit with a ruler by the nuns when she wrote left-handed.  Course my dad also got expelled from Parochial school for punching a priest so maybe my parents didn’t have the best rapport with the administration back then.

I mean, I was being sarcastic in that I know it’s not the real reason I suck at bowling, but I legit didn’t even think the two finger holes were different.

Wait, bowling balls have handedness?  No wonder I’m so shitty at bowling!  I mean, bowling is not a huge part of my life, but I’m almost 40 years old and just learning this....

Right but they have a system in place (the medallion system) specifically designed for this, so why develop a new one, rather than just enforce the system already in place (maybe with modifications)? Look, I’d much rather use Uber / Lyft than a classic cab (in NY or not) but I can at least appreciate where the city is…

Not true at all. Yellow cabs pay a tax to the city via the medallion, and are technically professional drivers, so they are a distinct group, even if you and I may prefer the Uber / Lyft model. 

I was only saying that that is a way to accomplish their stated goal, not that I necessarily agree with the goal.

No apology necessary, rage seemed reasonable and directed appropriately.  Government incompetence is hard to ignore even when it’s abstract; when it’s directly affecting your day-to-day life it’s outright infuriating.

I see. Thanks for the thorough response. It’s easy for someone like me to make a flippant comment (when I don’t even live in NYC) but not really grasp the entirety of the problem.

If the objective (from NYC gov’t point of view) is to preserve the yello cab dominance, I would think exempting them from the charge would make Uber / Lyft a cost-prohibitive alternative to the Yellow Cabs who wouldn’t have the same added cost.