OMBUDSMAN ALERT

The first in this writer’s series of articles concerned the vital topic of automotive safety and more specifically unintended acceleration of automobiles as the cause of accidents, possibly even involving the loss of lives of individuals.

While it is certainly “quite a stretch” to now compare this with unintended acceleration of shopping carts, just speak to any one of the numerous drivers throughout Rockland who have complained of “run-away” shopping carts that smashed into their autos parked in one of Rockland’s shopping centers, resulting in dents and other body damages to their autos. Better yet, speak to the many auto body shops in Rockland who claim they have repaired numerous body damages caused by these collisions of shopping carts in Rockland’s shopping centers!

Many of these collisions have resulted in hundreds of dollars of uncompensated expenses to Rockland drivers who often have to first meet a $500(ore more) deductible on their auto insurance before collecting anything from their insurance company, and this does not even include the additional expense the driver may have to assume in his future insurance premiums due to this reported accident.

So, the reader may ask, what can be done about this, who is to blame, and are there any laws that could be passed by the county or individual towns in Rockland to fairly treat the victim of such an accident as well as the stores from which the “runaway” carts “escaped”?

Furthermore, are there any restrictions that could be imposed on the use of these carts that would cut down on these collisions?

While this writer does not have the answer to any of these questions at this time, he invites the readers to express their opinions on these issues, so that with their input, this paper may help to diminish ore even solve this nagging problem.

Send your responses to editor@rocklandcountytimes.com.