<I have an idea of the speed at which I can stop and at which I can smack it into things and walk away, and I drive accordingly. If i had a plastic car with no ABS, narrow bald tyres and soft uneven suspension then I would drive a lot slower. Thus, apart from the risk of losing when being smacked into by someone with a safer car, I would be just as safe with the less safe car. >
True and when ABS became popular, the accident rate was found not to decline - which puzzled safety people initially. The reason was as you say, people used up the extra safety factor. People have a level of risk they'll accept. They operate at that level. Of course they are guessing and there are traps for the ignorant such as kinetic energy being the square of the speed. But we all do what we can to manage our risk levels.
But with distance control systems on cars, they could drive 1 metre apart at 120 kph perfectly safely. Actually, more safely. That would also fit a LOT more vehicles on a road and increase the speed. All good stuff. Less driving stress too.
They have already done that with 'platoons' of cars in trials. It works.
However, the lead car would need to be managed supremely well. If it went wrong, the result would be like a train wreck! Very, very ugly. It'll be years before that level of sophistication is roadworthy.
The one time I bumped into the back of somebody I would not have done so had I had the auto-stop detector. I was toddling along at 40 kph, way back from a car in front, just entering my destination town, on a slight downhill. I looked to the right because a lady was running along with a baby whose head was jiggling a bit much I thought.
When I looked back, the car in front had simply stopped in the middle of the road for a chat to the people on the right, who the lady was running along to catch up to. Oh no!! A brief skid and bump. No damage to them, but the flimsy stuff on the front of mine looked like I'd hit a brick wall.
It was a bunch of psychological traps, no dangers at all, momentary lapse of attention and bingo. Instant damage. I'd like a car which avoids such damage.
Fines for using a cellphone must be a great source of cash flow for police. Easy meat! Their main job is revenue gathering. The good thing about all the suffocation, traffic jams, restrictions, bureaucracy etc is that the little Hitlers all have to sit in the traffic jams and not use their phones too. They have to wait for permits and suffer delays and bureaucratic harassment as much as anyone. Maybe they are a bit like sadists and get a malevolent pleasure out of sitting there watching everyone suffer. That would make sense.
Mqurice |
