but busses can also take far more of an impact safely than can either of the cars. A glancing blow along the side of the bus will crumple many of its body panels, but, unless the wheels are struck or the rear of the bus is struck from the side, the bus's momentum will keep it on the road and travelling in pretty much the same direction. Such a glancing blow also will not slow the bus enough to cause the occupants to attempt involuntary flight.
The thing I really like about this scenario...
umm, I'm not sure that sounds the way I want it to...
The really intriguing thing about this question is that it is easily envisioned and so it shows that ethics can play a part in scenarios where we would least expect them. After all, it's easy enough to say "some guy's got a gun and he's threatening somebody with it," but how often do we encounter such situations in daily life?
I remember from my own course in Ethics when the prof posed this one to the class. He wrote it out point-for-point on the marker board, asked the question "what is the ethically correct thing to do?", and then did nothing but call on students for their responses, arguments, and rebuttals for the rest of the two-hour lecture period. At the end of it, he nailed us with the real hook: "your homework assignment, due next week, is to answer the question 'what is the ethically correct thing to do in this situation?' and defend your answer; essays must be at least 2,000 words in length."
I don't think anyone turned in less than four full typewritten pages on that one. |
