Regulations: they may strangle industry but at least they provide jobs for bureaucrats

The Gibbs Aquada

If you ever wanted to drive your car into the ocean and keep on driving, Gibbs Technology has the answer.  Their Aquada is an amphibious car that can do just that.  You can't buy it, though, in part because of contradictory Washington red tape.  The Wall Street Journal explains:

The Aquada could be put into mass production within six months after clearing all legal hurdles, [Gibbs Chairman] Mr. Jenkins says. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested.

The reason it is still in dry dock, he says, is a conflict between U.S. government regulations for vehicles on land and on water.

For example, air-bag sensors must be set according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standards for the car to be approved for the open road. But on the water, the settings are too sensitive. Waves that crash on the vehicle deploy the air bags. Another problem: An Environmental Protection Agency rule requires a catalyst to control emissions which can heat up several hundred degrees. The Coast Guard bars anything even half that hot operating in the engine compartment.

If Henry Ford had had to face America's modern army of bureaucrats, we might still be riding horses to work.

PREVIOUSLY on government red tape and its effect on the economy:
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