Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Smokin' Joe
"These cars will drive better than you or I drive," Brandes said. "They won't drive in someone's blind spot. They won't drive past the speed limit. They won't get angry. The benefits of this technology are just incredible."

I miss the days when a little professionalism was expected behind the wheel. One of our local first responders told me that everyone under 30 seems to live in a world of cartoon physics.

After an accident killed a local teen girl, the parents tried to sue the company that owned the gravel truck she hit. They declared that the accident simply couldn't have happened because the car the girl was driving had traction control. The simple fact is that she was going too fast around an icy curve.
16 posted on 05/07/2012 3:53:11 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies ]


To: cripplecreek
One of our local first responders told me that everyone under 30 seems to live in a world of cartoon physics.

Sadly, I wonder how many under 30 have even had any exposure to even high school physics, not that those numbers would translate in their minds to traumatic amputations and tissue destroying and bone crushing blunt force trauma.

Far too many have been sold on widget safety: Anti-lock brakes (there are times I want to be able to lock up my brakes!), traction control, airbags, seat belts, crumple zones, and all the features which make cars "safe", all allow people to ignore that the most important safety device in the car is between the driver's ears.

I think somewhere in there the cell phone (immediate one sided blinder), not to mention dinking with 'smart' phones (total loss of focus), music devices, and navigational aids, combined with a general sense of unreality make some oblivious to the consequences of a moment's inattention.

When I drove those old, noisy, drafty vehicles with brakes which worked better when you pumped them, balky manual gearboxes, and no power steering, I had to focus on what I was doing, the road, and drive well ahead to be ready for what was up there by the time I got there. Even in the heyday of the CB radio, we were aware of where we were, and what was going on around us.

Now, it seems the insular environment of a modern vehicle deprives the driver of the real sense of how fast they are going, and what the road conditions really are.

37 posted on 05/07/2012 9:41:41 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson