On 17 Aug 2004 09:31:07 -0700, (adder) wrote:

Mike Mitchell wrote in message
Hey, it's my turn to be frank! You're exaggerating the dangers, hyping
the problems and frightening the horses! I have known and loved pits
all my life and have never come across any situation like you
describe. But axle stands, jacks, half-bricks, lumps of wood, and all
the other weird and wonderful paraphernalia people stick under half a
ton of metal to kill themselves with are orders of magnitude more
dangerous than any pit. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. You
don't.

MM

Ok, how about you *both* know what you're talking about?!

While I agree that there are dangers to pits, like many things they
have to be used responsibly. certainly the more people you have
around the more likelihood there is for an accident, i.e. in a
commercial setting but I've never had an incident with a pit other
than somebody letting the dog out with the pit open & it falling down.
Now, that *could* have been my young daughter. ....but I don't have
one. If I did have one, I'd have to be more careful of course. As
for pits collapsing, it's a bit like garages collapsing - if they're
built properly then the risk is all but eliminated.

Personally, from a safety point of view, I'd rather work under a car
in my pit than have it up on stands with me lying under it.

Bravo, adder! A voice of reasonablenss in the face of considerable
venom from Dave and Jerry, who must have been watching too much of
Miss Hardbroom.

MM