Recent events have brought the intertwined issues of insurance and liability into the spotlight, like never before. First, the Temple plan for this year collapsed. The artist claimed the main reason was that he could not meet the insurance burden, which was shifted to him and not covered by the blanket policy BMOrg are required to have for the event.
Then we just had the tragic death of a Burner in Utah, who ran through the safety perimeter and leaped in the fire before anyone could stop him, exposing thousands to a horrific spectacle and raising the ugly specter of lawsuits once more. Some say “people trying to hurt themselves at burns is a growing problem and we should talk about it”, others say “it’s a coincidence not a trend, nothing to see here, move along”.
Safety third is all very well and fun for Burners to say as a joke, but try telling it to a burner-hating local Judge. It really isn’t a joke. Safety should be first, and if someone gets injured by an art car, in the eyes of the authorities it will be.
The best way to keep an art car safe, would seem to be knowing who the people are that are riding on it. If someone looks wasted, or seems like a trouble-maker, you should have the right to refuse them entry or kick them off. Right?
WRONG. Art Car operators have been ordered by BMOrg that they have to give Burners rides, even if they don’t know them. Not “we would like you to behave this way” warned. That would be too polite and Burnerly. Instead, “you have signed a contract and you must do this” warned.
Don’t believe me? Think Burners.Me is spreading “disinformation” or “spin”, because the lovely and kind BMOrg would never do such a thing? Read for yourself, and spin it your own way:
To: <DMV-announce@burningman.com>;
Subject: [dmv-announce] RE-SENDING – DMV SparkPlug Volume 4, Issue #1: Welcome to Burning Man 2014
Sent: Thu, Jul 10, 2014 9:34:59 PM
| …DON’T SAY WE DIDN’T WARN YOU! —————————– Failure to follow BRC’s driving protocol may result in any or all of the following; –* Revocation of your Mutant Vehicle license * Impound of your vehicle * Fines * Ejection from the event without refund * Denial of future Mutant Vehicle Licensing … THE RULES ——— The decision whether or not to grant a license for a Mutant Vehicle to operate at Burning Man is within the sole discretion of the Black Rock City DMV, and it may revoke any issued license for any reason.You agreed to obey BRC driving rules when you originally applied for your license; you will sign the agreement again when you get your license… YOUR VEHICLE AND THE COMMUNITY —————————— One of the most disheartening things we’ve heard in the past is how someone would be walking deep out on the playa, see a Mutant Vehicle and ask for a ride and were told “sorry, this is a private party”, or something to that effect.PLEASE REMEMBER: part of the agreement you sign is the understanding that a registered Mutant Vehicle is considered to be a public conveyance. This means that when you get a license to drive in Black Rock City you agree that you will share that privilege with others and give rides to those that need or ask. This is also a great way to meet people and a wonderful show of our community. Proper etiquette should be followed; all participants are allowed to ride Mutant Vehicles so long as there are not an unsafe number of passengers aboard at any given time. |
What if you want to raise funds for bringing this bus to put at BMOrg’s disposal, for the purposes of transporting randoms and the 40% virgins? Well, BMOrg will threaten to sue you if you say “Burning Man” or use photos of the vehicle at the event in your fundraising activities. They, on the other hand, are free to use it in $150,000 Vogue photoshoots, royalty-producing Oscar nominated movies, merchandise like calendars, advertising-riddled YouTube videos, and anything else they can think of to make money for themselves the tax-free non-profit they control that pays them royalties.
Maybe every art car will have to have bouncers now, for “safety” and to watch the randoms. “Let us on, we promise we’re not on drugs or alcohol”. How can the bouncer know? This is Burning Man, after all. If they mess up in the club, they can be kicked out, but it’s more complicated to do that on a moving mutant vehicle. The driver, who may not even be able to see their passengers, has to stop whenever the randoms want to get on and off. If you have to go somewhere that wasn’t your original destination for these randoms (like the medical center), the gas costs are on you. The insurance? That’s on the art car owners too. Will it be a challenge, to insure a mutant vehicle that is not street legal for public use by people who are unknown to the driver and are likely to be intoxicated? One would think so.
We would love to hear comments and feedback from Art Car owners, and the rest of the community about these rules.
[Update 7/21/14 5:10pm]
As expected, this is generating a lot of comments on both sides of the argument. This is not a post about “all the art cars that didn’t give me a ride”, it’s a post about “more rules from BMOrg”. I don’t see any point in listing the former, unless someone absolutely cannot believe that there are art cars at Burning Man that are difficult to ride around on for randoms.
If you are running a crowd-funding campaign for your Art Car, it seems logical that “a ride on the Art Car” would be one of the prize items. BMOrg’s policy seems to be aimed squarely at stopping that.
One commenter has pointed out that the story is even worse than I have described it. The devil is in the details. They were told that BMOrg have a “3 strikes and you’re out” policy, if there is a complaint that your art car didn’t pick up someone who wanted a ride, they can and will give you a strike. BMOrg does not inform you if you get a strike. There seems to be no formality to this system. For example, is there some sort of appeal process? Can you find out who lodged a strike against you? Basically, it seems like you’ll be guilty unless you have a way to prove that you were innocent.
Is this policy friendly to Art Cars? Or making life hard for them? Discuss.
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I used to have a large nightclub, and despite its size, we still had to turn people away. Without fail, every single person who got “bounced” was pissed at us. Even if the reason was because we were at capacity, rather than how they looked. The more gorgeous or “elite” they thought they were, the more quarrelsome they were when rejected. In the eyes of the law, a person is a person, and clubs have a licensed maximum capacity.
The situation on the Playa is far more complex, and one of the main laws that comes into play is called Physics. For example, a big guy might weigh the same as 2-3 sparkle ponies. So you turn someone who is 300 lbs away and then let someone on who’s 100 lbs, in front of their eyes. The big guy may well be thinking “I’m a consumer and I have rights! That’s discrimination!” Burning Man is not Las Vegas. There is no “standard for public intoxication” at Burning Man, and as a result many Burners are far more intoxicated than they would be in a club. Hallucinogens add fuel to the fire, affecting the capacity for rational thought. The more intoxicated they are, the more likely they are to cause problems and be belligerent – especially if you try to explain that their inebriation is the reason you’re not letting them on, or kicking them off. I’m not sure how much experience the Department of Mutant Vehicles licensing people have with security issues in places where liquor is involved (let alone free).
Last year I drove around for a bit in a very large DPW truck. I was absolutely amazed by the number of Burners who didn’t even look or get out of the way when they heard a vehicle coming. The driver told me “they think it’s an art car” and laughed. There would have been no way for him to stop in time in some of the cases, luckily at some point their danger instinct kicked in and they realized something massive was about to hit them. I know for sure that this driver wasn’t paying for any of the insurance costs for the vehicle.
There is no contract, and no rules, that say Burners have to get out of your way so that art cars can pull into or out of somewhere. They want to dance in front of you, that’s your problem. You hit them, that’s your problem. They fall over in front of you, that’s your problem. They lean their bike against your art car, that’s your problem. Forming a small perimeter around an art car with people and bikes is a way to force the Mutant Vehicle to stop so that you can then force them to let you on board.
If all Burners were kind and none were selfish, everything would be just as fine as it was in the past, when the party was half the size and Burners had “Gratitude” even though it wasn’t one of the Sacred Principles. I know I’m not the only one who has noticed a change in attitude of the crowd over the last few years, fuelled I’m sure by massive population growth, 40% of the people being there for the first time, and another 30% only having been once or twice before. “These are not the Burners you’re looking for” – even if they are the customers BMOrg is looking for. Many of these newbies think all the art and art cars have been put on by BMOrg for them as part of the party, and their ticket price entitles them to everything because it paid for all the stuff they see like at any other festival.
Chef Juke said that we are still misinterpreting the situation. Rather than answering any more questions in this public forum to clarify further, he asked everyone to email DMV. He promised us that DMV would create an FAQ “later in the year”. Since Burning Man starts in a month, presumably “later in the year” means “after the event”. I’ve taken a stab at breaking our questions down into YES/NO questions for an unofficial FAQ, if I’m getting the policy wrong or you have any questions at all please email DMV and ask. It would help other Burners if you then came here and shared their answers in the comments.
I am looking for clarification on these statements:
“Failure to follow BRC’s driving protocol may result in any or
all of the following;
* Revocation of your Mutant Vehicle license
* Impound of your vehicle
* Fines
* Ejection from the event without refund
* Denial of future Mutant Vehicle Licensing”
– do “any or all” of these 5 punishments get imposed if you refuse a ride to a random? (the answer appears to be: NO)
and
“part of the agreement you sign is the understanding that a registered Mutant Vehicle is considered to be a public conveyance. This means that when you get a license to drive in Black Rock City you agree that you will share that privilege with others and give rides to those that need or ask”
– do drivers have discretion to refuse rides without punishment? (the answer appears to be: YES, but they better have a good reason)
– do drivers have to take passengers wherever they want? (the answer appears to be: NO)
– do drivers have to stop whenever passengers want to get on? (the answer appears to be: NO)
– do drivers have to stop whenever passengers want to get off? (the answer appears to be: YES)
– do art car owners have to get separate insurance, or is it covered by BMOrg’s event policy? (the answer appears to be: YES, separate insurance is required)
– how do you get an insurance policy for an art car? (the answer appears to be: PARADE FLOAT INSURANCE, there was a company that used to do it, but they stopped last year)
As far as I know, Burning Man is still about Gifting, not barter. There is no obligation to give someone a gift, just because they demand it. Unless, of course, you have an art car: in which, Civic Responsibility, Immediacy and Radical Inclusion take priority over Gifting, Radical Self-Reliance, Radical Self-Expression, and Decommodification. An art car is a public conveyance and you have a contractual obligation to gift rides to anyone who demands them, unless you have a good reason to refuse. There is no obligation to drive them to any destination though, your “ride” might end in Deep Playa and then they will have to find another Art Car to demand a gift from. Or face a long walk back, that they may not have prepared for. If you take a ride on an Art Car, Burners, don’t automatically assume that means you’re going to get a ride back to the same place.
We’re still asking people to share their experiences with Art Cars and the rules in the comments here, as either owners or passengers.