Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
I leave it in as a tailgating deterrent. It does help. I had a big tow hook in the receiver of my Explorer and nobody tailgated that thing. It also protects the bumper should someone run their car into it.
As for hitting your shins, it's not too hard to watch where you are going. That seems like something that's pretty easy to avoid.
This thread reminds me of the book, "Unsafe at any speed" by Ralph Nader. Though he had a lot of wonky ideas, the title of his book came from the fact that some cars were a hazard even when parked. He wrote about one incident where a bicyclist lost control of his bike and got impaled by the fin of a 1959 Cadillac, illustrating how dangerous vehicles can be even standing still. He had a good point there, and in ensuing years cars were made to be pedestrian friendly, and not loaded with pointy objects - like the airplane on the hood of my dad's 55 Ford, or the bullets on the hood of my 57 Chevy - which can impale pedestrians. This action should be extended to trailer hitches as well.
As far as asking people to be careful, this can be applied to most any hazard. Why do you think we have guard rails and decelleration barrels at abutments, and even salt the sidewalks? The same argument can be applied here as well -- just be careful! Much as we ask the public to be careful, we also have to recognize the fact that hazards exist, and we need to minimize them. Leaving a sharp object sticking out of your vehicle is irresponsible.