Imagine a stopped cable car sitting at the top of a steep hill in San Francisco. There’s a switch just below the car that would send the trolley onto one of two tracks. You don’t know where either track goes beyond the bottom of the hill, and you can’t see whether either track is obstructed. You’re also unsure of the tracks’ condition. The conductor is nowhere in sight. Do you release the brakes? And can anyone be mad at you if you do?
The answer is obvious. Of course you wouldn’t. Releasing a hurtling hunk of metal without knowing where it would go and what would happen is too likely to cause harm. The risk outweighs the reward of seeing the car go really fast.
