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The appended article, which is about a proposed new $US1000 extraction fee for having yourself pried from within a mangled and crushed vehicle, is described as breaking new ground.
Two questions:
- 1) What becomes of someone who refuses to pay the Jaws of Life Fee?
- 2) What will sprout up from this newly broken ground --i.e., what's next?
It was not so long ago that the American public could barely conceive of being charged a fee to walk in the woods, another fee to sit by a stream and watch the water flow, another fee to watch the deer browse, and yet another fee to look upon the setting sun. New ground was broken with the Recreation Fee Demonstration program. All of those fees have now become part of our American culture and our American way of life. In the past decade, much has sprouted from that broken ground with the Jaws of Life Fee being an obvious extension.
As for the ANSWER to the first of my questions posed above, consider this. In order to make the newly proposed fee work, those who can not pay or who refuse to pay must suffer. It is only through the use of enforced suffering can fees such as these become accepted, or at least, tolerated.
Scott
--- begin quoted ---
February 1, 2008
West Vancouver considers car accident rescue fees
Residents of West Vancouver could soon be paying user fees to be
rescued from their vehicles, if the local city council has its way.
Council is considering a proposal that would see residents of the
Vancouver suburb paying $970 to the fire department if extrication
equipment is used to pry them out of a crushed car.
The response from local residents has been cool so far. Some have said they would refuse to pay the proposed fee.
West Vancouver Mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones said that while she is
sympathetic to their concerns, Jaws of Life rescues can be expensive.
"Council's position is that this is part of the cost of an accident and that the insurer should pay that cost," she said.
"Just as when Pay Less is paid for towing your car away, we should be
reimbursed for our first-class service to ICBC [Insurance Co. of
British Columbia] and obviously their customers," she said.
West Vancouver Fire Department Chief Jeff Oates described the Jaws of
Life as an essential tool. Without them, he said, some rescues would be
impossible.
The concept of charging user fees for extrications was one of the ideas
suggested to help the fire department try to increase its revenue this
year.
"We had to break new ground to get to [our] proposed goal," Oates said.
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- Activism 
