Ha! This will never sell to drivers in Boston!

[speden]

Thats just it....Half the drivers on the road should have never passed there drivers test. The system is garbage.

It is what it is, and it's not likely to change in any significant way.

Most of the common causes of accidents cannot be taught away. Drunk driving, speeding, cellphones, poorly maintained cars that break, etc. That kind of stuff isn't going to stop no matter what you do. The best way auto manufacturers can make headway on reducing fatal accidents is to make the cars smarter and more crashworthy.

 

[speden]

Why is "Knowing how to drive and wishing others did, too" always equated with being a speed freak? ...

Well I hope you don't think I was saying that. bvibert was saying he thought the weight of safety equipment was ruining the fun of driving, so I asked him if he liked driving fast. If he does, then a bike is the way to go.

But to your point, wishing others did too is just a pipe dream, not a solution.

 

[ctenidae]

It is what it is, and it's not likely to change in any significant way.

Most of the common causes of accidents cannot be taught away. Drunk driving, speeding, cellphones, poorly maintained cars that break, etc. That kind of stuff isn't going to stop no matter what you do. The best way auto manufacturers can make headway on reducing fatal accidents is to make the cars smarter and more crashworthy.

I disagree. All of those things can be taught away- largely simply by enforcing the laws. Make it a license-suspending offense to be on your cell phone. Make car inspections and safety checks more effective. Making it less necessary for drivers to actually be driving their cars makes it less likely that people will actually drive their cars.

Instead of paying for extra safety features in cars, I'd rather build out better public transport.

 

[speden]

Wouldn't it be better still to train drivers to avoid getting into those situations to begin with? All of your examples are the result of operator error. The vast majority of crashes are the result of operator error. An "accident" is rarely truly an accident- someone did something that was incorrect. There are very few other reasons for crashes. The Fins have a solid driver's ed program, and very low accident rates.

When two cars collide, usually one of them is at fault, and if you're a good driver, it was probably the other guy that made the operator error. If the other guy had a collision braking system, then they wouldn't have hit you. If he was bombed out of his mind, he could try to hit stuff all the way home from the bar until someone called the cops and put his butt in jail. Without the collision avoidance he'll hurt himself and probably take someone with him, which doesn't help anyone except the lawyers. The Fins may have a solid driver's ed program, but they also have a different culture and populace than the melting pot of the U.S., which is probably more significant.

I disagree. All of those things can be taught away- largely simply by enforcing the laws. Make it a license-suspending offense to be on your cell phone. Make car inspections and safety checks more effective. Making it less necessary for drivers to actually be driving their cars makes it less likely that people will actually drive their cars.

Instead of paying for extra safety features in cars, I'd rather build out better public transport.

You might get a marginal improvement in accident rates with that kind of stuff, but nothing significant. And then you're living in a police state with random drunk driver checkpoints and punishing people that can use their cellphone safely while driving. There are lots of people driving around on a suspended license, illegal immigrants that don't even try to get a license and training, etc. Stopping these people before they do damage using law enforcement is extremely difficult. The cops aren't usually called in until after the accident and then it's too late.

... Though, Darwin would argue that people who just want to go fast should drive donorcycles. Can't say I entirely disagree.

This is actually a very good point for what I'm talking about. You can't really add many safety features to a motorcycle. It's inherently dangerous and the riders know that and act accordingly. But the biggest danger to a biker is actually car drivers that don't see them. It's a weakness in human perception and motorcycles are practically invisible to many drivers. That's why we used to call them "Left turn Larry", who would turn left directly in front of an oncoming motorcycle. Well motorcycles aren't invisible to a computer. They could stop Larry in his tracks and let the organ donor keep his organs until another day.

 

[ALLSKIING]

Why do you say that? Most bikes can leave a car in the dust. When I used to ride, cars often seemed like non-moving objects.

Its just a silly statement. Snowmobiles go fast as hell as well..If one likes speed should he just stick with snowmobiles? Most bikes can leave normal cars in the dust but somebody that is into speed like a lot of my friends and myself to a certain point do not drive normal cars. I have driven in many cars that would outperform a street bike so to say that is just really silly.

 

[bvibert]

If you agree that the driver is the most dangerous element, then it doesn't make sense that would wouldn't want to stop the driver from doing something dangerous, like flying into a pileup.

In the scenario I laid out, the driver is about to collide with something. Imagine you're the passenger and see a car about to t-bone you from the side if you don't stop. You yell at the driver, "Look out! Stop now!" But the driver does nothing and sits there like a statue. You are probably going to die if you don't get the car stopped. If you had a brake pedal in the passenger seat, would you press it to save your life, or would you be worried about offending the driver and taking away his fun of driving?

Well the computer is the passenger, and computers are so much faster than humans that we look like statues to them. They can see when a crash is imminent and that the driver isn't doing anything about it. Why wouldn't you want the computer to apply the brake and prevent the accident? Because you think the computer is too heavy and costs too much money and that the government may one day mandate it so therefore it must be bad? Stuff like this is usually pioneered on high end luxury cars, so if you don't want it, don't buy it. It wouldn't be mandated unless it was proven to save lives and the cost became reasonable enough for the mainstream.

Because I don't want a computer that has the ability to apply the brakes on my car. Period. End of story.

Increase driver responsibility and driver training. You're never going to completely remove the driver from the equation.

No amount of your scenarios are going to make me feel otherwise.

 

[speden]

Because I don't want a computer that has the ability to apply the brakes on my car. Period. End of story.

Increase driver responsibility and driver training. You're never going to completely remove the driver from the equation.

No amount of your scenarios are going to make me feel otherwise.

Okay I give up trying to convince you, but here's a good article on it:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-07-18-self-braking-cars_n.htm

 

[bvibert]

Okay I give up trying to convince you, but here's a good article on it:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-07-18-self-braking-cars_n.htm

That article makes me cringe. At least there's one voice of reason in it:

"I'm fairly old-school. I still like to drive a manual transmission because I like control of my vehicle," says Jayne Griffith, 51, a Honda Civic driver from Minneapolis. "I don't think it's reasonable to spend thousands of dollars of extra money because someone is a careless driver."

 

[speden]

That article makes me cringe. At least there's one voice of reason in it:

One thing that stood out to me was this: "Only about 40% of people brake in crashes". Most people never see it coming.

 

[ALLSKIING]

One thing that stood out to me was this: "Only about 40% of people brake in crashes". Most people never see it coming.

Those 40% should be the only ones with a drivers license. The rest should retest.