Summary Of Auto Liberation By Brent Knutson

Brent Knutson article “Auto Liberation” is an interesting one. Knutson has just returned from a four year stays in Kaiserslautern, Germany and realized quite a few differences in the German Autobahn and American Interstate System. The difference have lead him to take a position on making American interstate highways “Speed-limit Free”. “Auto Liberation” uses four main points to support his position; American’s can drive “at speed” with proper training, cars are made to drive fast safely, insurance twist statistics for to scare us for their own benefit, and lastly it’s fun to effectively prove his position. Knutson effectively persuades his position on making American interstate highways “speed-limit free” by using descriptive writing, quotes

He opens up his article with a background story of a driver of a late-model Japanese sports care on his way to work to interest the reader and you can’t help but be pulled in. Even not knowing much about manual cars you can still imagine what’s happening due to the descriptive writing. Knutson uses this style of writing throughout his essay. In his counterargument Knutson says “removing such restrictions would result in mayhem on the freeways; they’re convinced that the countryside would be littered with the carcasses of people who achieved terminal velocity only to careen off the road and explode into flames” (qtd. in Knutson

J. Wilde “developed the RHT (risk homeostasis theory) to account for the apparent propensity of drivers to maintain a constant level of experienced accident risk” (qtd. in Jackson and Blackman 950). During a driving-simulation experiment in which he changed “non-motivational factors,” Wilde determined that “[n]either speed limit nor speeding fine had a significant impact on accident loss” (qtd. in Jackson and Blackman 956)” (qtd. in Knutson 621). While Knutson is a fan of quotes as research and evidence he also paraphrases, uses facts, and his own experiences to support his article. A good fact that “Auto Liberation” uses is that about Idaho Senator raising the speed limit on rural interstate. I do believe though his personal experiences make the article. Knutson tells the story of how he “experienced the automotive equivalent of Zen consciousness” (qtd in Knutson 622) with great detail and