Look, I understand the line you are trying to walk here, but encountering a vehicle like this and thinking "this guy just has different ideas than me, but is otherwise trustworthy" is not rational thinking.

There's a difference between believing in conspiracy theories and covering your van with warnings about the nanochips on your body that give you computer generated diseases.

If I learned that someone suffering extreme paranoid delusions like this were in charge of operating a passenger vehicle, I would be extremely concerned with the safety of those passengers.

This isn't some unreasonable thing. I have a lot of compassion for those who suffer from mental illness, but I also think that public safety should take precedent when it is clear that someone is mentally incapable of being trusted with things like heavy machinery.

It's not the ideas expressed on this vehicle that concern me. It's that every part of this indicates a serious and untreated mental health problem. The only way my opinion could be redeemed is if the owner of the van came forward and said it was a joke, or a prop for a movie or something, because nobody with a connection to reality is going to write those things all over a truck and parade around town trying to spread the word if they aren't severely dissociated from reality.

And I cannot stress this enough, nothing about this story has anything to do with Autism. Paranoid delusions are not a typical issue for Autistic people.

The guy driving this van is probably about as functional as someone in the middle of a panic attack. Very likely erratic and on meth I would not trust to drive.

So where I live if you have a disease, physical or mental, you go to a doctor and they decide if you're ok to drive or if you need to pass an extra test first where you are judged if you're able to drive safely with whatever disabilities you have. This is besides the standard driving test and written test. Also everybody has to take lessons with a professional.

It's however not perfect because the government doesn't have access to your medical records (which is good). But that means you have to be honest on a form about your disabilities. Plus the doctor visit is not covered by insurance and costs around 200 euros.

Plus if you already have your licence there isn't really a system in place to prevent you for driving if your health declines.

I just blink my nictating membranes at them and carry on with my powerful government job.

There's a big difference between a danger that is tangible and immediate, such as a collision with another vehicle, and something that cannot be seen or interacted with, like electricity or a virus.

There's nothing about this that tells me this person can't drive safely.

If you're a crazy enough that this makes sense, I don't think you should be driving a vehicle even if you're technically capable of doing so. At least not until you get diagnosed and treated.

I said we shouldn't let them drive a car, not lock them in prison. Calm down.

Ideally we would provide people like this with mental healthcare, and get them medicated so that they actually can operate a vehicle without being an inherent risk to everyone around them.

My point is that, in America, you can basically be screaming "I am extremely unwell to the point of being an elevated risk to myself and everyone around me", and our usual response is to act like everything is normal and nothing should be done.