Walking along a town street today I was struck by the number of carelessly parked cars that had their tyres squashed by being half up the kerb.
Am I right in thinking that this kind of thing is especially likely to damage a low-profile tyre, and wheel? Perhaps in the days when cars had big wheels and full profile tyres it didn't matter so much. My 1947 Triumph had wheels the same size as LandRovers, so a 6" kerb was relatively small. But I am amazed that people with expensive alloy wheels do not notice the damage they must be doing with metal to stone contact as they bash their way onto the pavement.
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You're right. And every time a car mounts a pavement to park, tyre and suspension life is shortened, which of course applies to speed humps too. I suspect that many of the cars you see are not owned by their drivers -- company cars, sugar-daddy cars, etc. As a 17-year-old being driven to a gig by a drunken friend who was thrashing his brand new company car, I recall my horror when he said "It's not mine; why should I care?" -- never forgotten that and have seen many manifestations of it since. Yuk!
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People these days just don't care about the things they use, be they cars, computers, cds and cd-players, etc. It is the general way of thinking of the modern consumer-user: "I don't care how it works, it just has to work, no matter what."
So people kick computers around, grab cds with their fingers, drive their car like it's a 4x4 (ok, those with real 4x4s are excluded) and then wonder "why, oh why doesn't it work?" blaming the things instead of themselves.
I don't know. Maybe it should be that way. Myself? I admire technology and engineering - I'm an engineer myself - and their achievements. I respect the various devices that surround us and make our lives easier - many of them have turned the previously impossible into possible. I always try to understand their structure and how they work; and respect them and treat them nicely.
Some may call me a tech-freak, I prefer to be called romantic.
Vagelis.
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My theory is the devaluation of possessions is because they are so affordable and thus so much is "easy come easy go". When company cars didn't exist and buying a car or a (then) high-ticket item involved saving and scrimping, or (horror of horrors) buying it on the "never-never", the intrinsic value of the hard work and sacrifice was transferred to the purchase, ergo it was a thing of value to be taken care of, and was thus treated with respect.
Now you can charge it all to your credit cards, if that all gets too much take out a consolidation loan, a second mortgage or just do a runner. It's only money anyway. 30 years ago we were appalled at the Americans for promoting this kind of disposable culture, now it's all over the West.
As for abusing company cars, I have on more than one occasion wished said abuser all the best in their next career move -- my Finance Director in Hong Kong managed to write off three Toyota Crowns in 7 months! I would have thought a beanie would have appreciated the value more than most but they turned out to be the worst.
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Low profile tyres and alloy rims have a much higher risk of damage. The hills around my home are so steep that it is good practice to turn the wheels in to the kerb, where there is one. I observed a car coming down a hill on packed snow lock up its wheels and nudge a Jaguar which had parked before the snow fell. It was just sufficient to move the Jaguar off the dry ground beneath its back wheels, and it sailed on down the hill on its own. What fun! Nobody but myself observed it, and I'm sure that the car driver did not tell.
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