the.com/dodgem
The only vehicle where crashing is the entire point and insurance doesn't exist.
means A small electric fairground car, ringed with a rubber bumper, built for bumping into other cars on a shared metal floor.
from Trademark-turned-generic, from 'dodge 'em' — the carnival-barker instruction to swerve and avoid other cars, which riders promptly ignored. The ride itself traces to early-20th-century American amusement-park bumper cars, powered by an overhead electrical grid; 'dodgem' became the common British name for the attraction, even though dodging was never really the activity anyone had in mind.
- real name
- bumper car, dodgem is the British nickname
- invention year
- patented in 1920 by the Lusse brothers
- electric skirt
- metal floor and pole roof complete the circuit
- steering truth
- wheel barely matters, momentum runs the show