JohnWho;
I understand what you are saying and trying to do. It is admirable, but when the designer/owner of the software has said what he said about the subject, any continued discussion would seem futile. It reminds me of the old saying: to continue would be like trying to flog (beat) a dead horse to make it pull a load".
Maybe some of the suggestions that you and Dale have made to Jim without receiving an answer to your satisfaction should be kept in a journal. When he has fixed the collision avoidance problem bring the issues up again and I'm sure he would be much more agreeable to fix them.
Just my 2-cents.