[OAC_Sparky]

darkpuppet,Apr 29 2010, 03:41 PM Wrote:Maybe a better analogy is the fact that while women (statistically) get into more car accidents, men get into more fatal accidents.

So we should ban all men from driving?  (eep!)   :ph34r: [right][snapback]306127[/snapback][/right]

Well, that would be extreme, but the law does allow men to be treated different than women, because a man's car insurance is generally higher than a woman's all other things being equal. (ie. That the law condones this is really a form of legal sex discrimination. But could you imagine the lawsuits if they kept accident stats based on race and (for example) charged blacks or Asians more?!!) BUT, generally speaking, this does keep more dangerous, high powered sports cars out of the hands of less experienced, young males that tend to drive more aggressively.

Being a dog owner myself (I have a rescued racing greyhound) I personally don't agree with a breed-specific ban, but I do agree that dog owners should perhaps be forced to carry liability insurance. And in that way you can charge rates based on breed.

I mean, even a fairly peaceful breed like a greyhound can cause damage -- a greyhound is still a large hunting dog (70-80lbs) with a high prey drive (that varies from dog to dog) and is the fastest runner that can chase prey at 70kmh. One of the greys we fostered for a bit attacked the wife's gf's Bijon Frise unexpectedly (note to small dogs -- keep your nose outta bigger dog's asses) and caused a $500 vet bill that we had to pay. But I have only seen a couple reports of a human mauling by a greyhound and no deaths -- which is surprising considering the number of abused (mentally and physically) greyhounds that are out there (nature of the sport).

If you charge by breed based statistically on the damage it will cause (based on historic data), perhaps you can work to keep the dangerous ones out of the irresponsible wannabe redneck toughguys that can't rub two nickels together that don't train the dog properly. But to an established responsible couple it shouldn't be a dealbreaker.