Hang-ups and Crashes

Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, in an interview with NY Times columnist, Maureen Dowd (Feb. 26^th): Putting entertainment centers in automobiles does not contribute to safe driving. When you're trying to update your Facebook or put out a tweet, it's a distraction.

Sue Cischke, a Ford executive (in the same article): "Telling younger people not to use a cell phone is almost like saying, don't breathe."

We know that holding up your cell phone to your ear is a distracted-driving traffic offense almost everywhere in the United States. If you live in a city, how many folks did you see driving with a cell phone pressed to their ear? Today? Hey, I saw a guy on a bike today, no helmet, pedaling away while gabbing on a cell phone with absolutely no visibility on the side he held his phone. We also now know that brains are not capable of multi-tasking (doing two activities involving reasoning at the same time); what is really going on is rapid focus shifting but when the mind is not focused on the driving tasks and danger arises well.

But no matter what Mr. LaHood may want, we are not going to go backwards on communications technology in our cars of the future. Bluetooth connectivity with cell phones is increasingly a must-get option on cars today, but is there an argument that they should be mandatory? Just talking on the phone, even over the car's speaker, is still distracted driving. Looking away from the windshield, even for a second, thinking about what the person on the other end of the line is saying, even for an instant, can each be fatal. Yet who is really going to agree to let go of all those communications devices, particularly in a world where you are worried about losing your job? If your boss or a client wants to speak with you or communicate with you, what are you going to do? That cute guy or girl is texting you! You may actually believe that economic survival or a hot date just might be worth dying for.

Got a DUI, well, you might already be enjoying an ignition inhibitor that won't let you start your car if your breath (or your sweat) reflects too much alcohol. Hyundai uses an iPad in lieu of an instruction manual which also monitors your maintenance needs at every level in its new high-end vehicle. Technology is rising (or sinking, if you think about it) to the occasion. BMW offers a system that takes text and creates a voice message you can listen to in your expensive vehicle. Heads up displays are eventually going to be everywhere, where your instruments reflect your performance numbers on your windshield so your eyes never leave the road. Infrared displays on or near your windshield from BMW or Cadillac can show you what your headlights might not. Mercedes Distronic option can sense danger and brake your car faster than you can when a collision is imminent.

All safety equipment that is available on high-end, luxury vehicles today, may be standard in the future... until driving is no longer entrusted to mere humans. With congestion getting much worse, and with computers racing to unravel and solve traffic jams with some of the most complex mathematical models on earth with startling inaccuracy, no one seems to be able to compensate for that ugly human factor. It seems that the greatest danger, the most obvious risk element to driving in general, is the fact that angry, inebriated, distracted, desperate, tardy, lost and anxious drivers are absolutely everywhere all the time. Computer-controlled driving? Take people out of the driving process and watch safety soar, but who really wants to give up driving? Really?

I'm Peter Dekom, and I lost track of time writing this blog. I am soooo late! I better hurry!