Eisernkreuz said:
So, then people who drop oil, coolant, or blinker fluid on the street should hang out and pass out business cards and home phone numbers to the people that crash in their mess after them :wtf It's the cost of doing business, dude
On the street or track, it is a matter of negligence and if you are caught on the street, damned right you are financially liable for the effects of your negligence.
On the track we sign waivers to avoid litigation over liability issues. There are of course limits to waivers and willful negligence is usually excluded by public policy making any such contract provision void. simple negligence, almost certainly is not excluded and therefore covered by the waiver.
I like to think that were I the guy who caused such carnage (luckily minor in this case) I would help out with the repairs to the extent of my ability. At this point I am not independently wealthy, so I would have to rely on the waiver covering me, but if I could help someone out who was damaged by my negligence, I would.
If I had the means to pay for the repairs, I would do that as well.
There are certain things that are understandable, you crash and spill oil, water wetter, etc. name of the game. you are too F'ing lazy or lie and say you changed out your coolant and create a coolant slick, then the other riders should probably rely on their immunity to string you up.
Doubling an oil gasket has been covered lots of times. doing your own oil change puts that responsibility squarely on your shoulders. I do oil changes for a living and I check the filter I took off against the new filter to make sure all the gaskets, washers, etc are accounted for. That is especially true on the 1 gallon element filters on Hino engines. about 10 different sealing parts (gaskets, multiple o-rings, rubber coated washers, etc.)
In sum: The waivers we sign are to prevent legal recourse from events at the track, they don't relieve us of the moral responsibility to take responsibility for our actions or negligence.
Maybe part of tech should be removing the catch pan and revving the engine to 90% of redline for a few seconds to see if the oil filter is leaking.
It would be nice if there were an easy preventive procedure. the only one we have now is CAREFUL maintenance and personal responsibility.