ChristophW

How convenient, the draft seems like a perfect match to SawStop technology ;-)

But joking aside, I'm all for it. Two years ago I bought myself a Bosch contractor saw, the SawStop was unfortunately out of reach back then. Today I wish I would have gone for the SawStop. I am usually very careful around the saw and could probably say the same thing that this won't happen to me, all other people who amputated their fingers are dummies and so on. But it only takes a split second of inattention, or even just a freak accident that you could not even have foreseen, and there go your fingers.

If this regulation can bring saw stop (not necessarily SawStop!) technology to a wide range of models, this technology will become much cheaper in the near future. Inflation-adjusted, are we paying more for a basic car model today than we paid let's say 20 years ago? I don't think so. It's economies of scale that bring down prices over time. And let me ask you, who of you here truly worries about the future of the $80 model at the big box store around the corner? Not me. But what unfortunately made a difference for me was the difference between $500 for a Bosch and $1600 or more for the SawStop. If the same Bosch saw had this feature for e.g. $300 more, I'm in.

Regarding the argument why we don't mandate such technology for routers, drills, etc., it's simply because it's not there yet. The government didn't invent the concept of airbags and mandated it out of the blue, it mandated it after airbags had proven to dramatically reduce car accident injuries and fatalities and car manufacturers were still not willing to put proven, common-sense safety technology into every car.

I frequently read FW articles and other content on my iPhone. For the most part this works well enough for me. The only complaint I have are the Flash-based videos. Those often come with the daily emails and unfortunately I always have to wait until I get back to my PC. While support for all the different readers that keep popping up out there might be asking for too much, a website optimized for mobile viewing might help most people.