Sea change moment ?
11-01-2016, 04:33 AM
#11
Banned
The problem is we all know we should not do it, but most people just take the assumption that they will not be caught so why not, they see everybody else doing it.
Apart from a decent educational and advertising campaign to try and change attitudes, what you need is the common everyday user to get caught regularly to realize they cannot get away with it.
You will still get those who consider themselves above the law and will do it anyway, but its about changes the great majority of the users that is key.
With so few road traffic officers it is understandable that they feel they are able to get away with it.
Even if there were more officers, its the huge amount of people who use phones in the normal town traffic routes that you see the most, which is the sort of location those officers are unlikely to be patrolling.
They almost need to pick heavy trafficked routes and sit on it for a week and pull all the drivers breaking the rules.
They would rake in the fines or at least give a lot of people a shock and hopefully start to change attitudes.
Apart from a decent educational and advertising campaign to try and change attitudes, what you need is the common everyday user to get caught regularly to realize they cannot get away with it.
You will still get those who consider themselves above the law and will do it anyway, but its about changes the great majority of the users that is key.
With so few road traffic officers it is understandable that they feel they are able to get away with it.
Even if there were more officers, its the huge amount of people who use phones in the normal town traffic routes that you see the most, which is the sort of location those officers are unlikely to be patrolling.
They almost need to pick heavy trafficked routes and sit on it for a week and pull all the drivers breaking the rules.
They would rake in the fines or at least give a lot of people a shock and hopefully start to change attitudes.
I wonder how that figure stacks up against other driving offences.
11-01-2016, 04:49 AM
#12
You've used the Jazz AC 'controls' i see.
Maybe there is nothing to be done other than fit emergency brake systems and hope they catch the percentage of current accidents that the careless humans fail to do anything about. Of course if you do that, you get left with only the really severe stuff either because mechanical failure / electrical failure or just too much stupidity for the systems to protect from in the first place.
Perhaps Clarkson was right after all, a big sodding metal spike in the middle of the steering wheel is really the way forward after all.
Maybe there is nothing to be done other than fit emergency brake systems and hope they catch the percentage of current accidents that the careless humans fail to do anything about. Of course if you do that, you get left with only the really severe stuff either because mechanical failure / electrical failure or just too much stupidity for the systems to protect from in the first place.
Perhaps Clarkson was right after all, a big sodding metal spike in the middle of the steering wheel is really the way forward after all.
It's human nature that people try to get away with stuff - it's what tempted us to come down from the trees in the first place. We are all thrill-seekers/boundary-pushers in our own, individual ways.
A risk-free society isn't a society; it's a slow-lingering extinction. It's why the nannies can never win - nor should they.
11-01-2016, 05:19 AM
#14
As we're all aware, many car manufacturers per se, as well as the likes of Apple, Dyson et al are developing autonomous vehicles. Perhaps we're in the throes of witnessing the inevitable extinction of the car as we know it.
No safety concerns with true autonomy; no seat belts, air bags, crash structures, whatever. And occupants would be able to scroll through music, Tweet, post on Facebook, Facetime, WhatsApp, yadda, yadda, yadda, to their hearts content, comfortable in the knowledge they'll get to where their going whilst enjoying activities rather than being required to undertake the task of controlling and navigating a vehicle.
For the vast majority of drivers, getting from A-B is all that matters. The what and how is increasingly irrelevant.
No safety concerns with true autonomy; no seat belts, air bags, crash structures, whatever. And occupants would be able to scroll through music, Tweet, post on Facebook, Facetime, WhatsApp, yadda, yadda, yadda, to their hearts content, comfortable in the knowledge they'll get to where their going whilst enjoying activities rather than being required to undertake the task of controlling and navigating a vehicle.
For the vast majority of drivers, getting from A-B is all that matters. The what and how is increasingly irrelevant.
11-01-2016, 05:19 AM
#15
11-01-2016, 05:37 AM
#16
Banned
As we're all aware, many car manufacturers per se, as well as the likes of Apple, Dyson et al are developing autonomous vehicles. Perhaps we're in the throes of witnessing the inevitable extinction of the car as we know it.
No safety concerns with true autonomy; no seat belts, air bags, crash structures, whatever. And occupants would be able to scroll through music, Tweet, post on Facebook, Facetime, WhatsApp, yadda, yadda, yadda, to their hearts content, comfortable in the knowledge they'll get to where their going whilst enjoying activities rather than being required to undertake the task of controlling and navigating a vehicle.
For the vast majority of drivers, getting from A-B is all that matters. The what and how is increasingly irrelevant.
No safety concerns with true autonomy; no seat belts, air bags, crash structures, whatever. And occupants would be able to scroll through music, Tweet, post on Facebook, Facetime, WhatsApp, yadda, yadda, yadda, to their hearts content, comfortable in the knowledge they'll get to where their going whilst enjoying activities rather than being required to undertake the task of controlling and navigating a vehicle.
For the vast majority of drivers, getting from A-B is all that matters. The what and how is increasingly irrelevant.
Cyclists and pedestrians will soon work that out.
Back to horseback may be the future.
11-01-2016, 07:40 AM
#18
UK Moderator
A self driven car will be no different, other than it's likely to be paying more attention to its surroundings.
11-01-2016, 10:02 AM
#19
The aftermarket will probably produce a kit, which converts the pop-up bonnet detonators into a spring-loaded punchglove, which will deck the lycra-clad twat responsible...
11-01-2016, 10:32 AM
#20
Banned
If I choose to walk, cycle or ride my horse down the middle of the road at the moment it will only be a question of time before someone punches me, runs me/us over or intervenes in some other way to get me out of their fecking way.
I'm not sure there will be an aggression function with autonomous cars - they will simply take a passive approach - and pedestrians et al will quickly work that out and use it to their advantage.
The rest of us in our old classics will just drive straight at the feckers.
It could be like the parting of the Red Sea.
