Keith Crain is Editor in Chief of Automotive News and has published this opinionated article in their website this morning.
I am reposting it here to hopefully raise awareness of what the opinions are of -some- of the folks in the automobile media industry. These folks certainly help to drive legislators.
What is your opinion? Should people be removed from driving cars? Are we simply too dangerous to ourselves to permit us to drive? Is it safer to your nieghbors to not have you drive? Will we simply be forced to all buy buss passes rather than drive...?
Discuss - because its important and its coming, whether we like it or not. Nevada has allowed driverless Google cars on its roads...is your state next?
Automotive News - 5/14/12
"Distracted drivers are a hot topic these days. A combination of federal and state rules will be needed to regulate the distractions.
The federal government gets to regulate the vehicle and the states get to regulate driver behavior, which means it will be almost impossible to have uniform standards among 50 states.
Meanwhile, another move is afoot to remove the driver from the equation: experimental vehicles that drive without drivers. Sort of the ultimate autopilot.
You have to applaud efforts to reduce the number of highway accidents, injuries and deaths. But we must be careful when getting involved with regulations affecting the vehicle and the driver.
For years I have railed about the lack of consistent rules for people who drive under the influence of alcohol. States and local jurisdictions vary widely with their enforcement of drunken-driving regulations and the consequences for violators.
If we want to save the most lives and prevent the most injuries, we should go after drunken drivers first, with a real fervor, and see if we can finally get them off the road.
But beyond regulating drunken drivers, reducing the other real and potential driver distractions in a vehicle is a daunting task. I am not sure what it will take. Maybe the vehicle's cockpit should look something like that of an airplane. But even then, in a much better environment, it is still impossible to get rid of all the potential distractions.
One solution would be to remove the possibility of driver error by having a machine take over the driving tasks -- and there are many in and out of government who see that as the best potential solution.
But there are still millions of drivers in the United States who enjoy driving and want to continue being in control of the vehicle. The long-term solution may be for the driver to eliminate all distractions from the task or lose the privilege. It comes down to continual education from a person's first exposure to driving. It could save thousands of lives".
You can reach Keith Crain at [email protected].
Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/2012...#ixzz1uqPeRE8q
I am reposting it here to hopefully raise awareness of what the opinions are of -some- of the folks in the automobile media industry. These folks certainly help to drive legislators.
What is your opinion? Should people be removed from driving cars? Are we simply too dangerous to ourselves to permit us to drive? Is it safer to your nieghbors to not have you drive? Will we simply be forced to all buy buss passes rather than drive...?
Discuss - because its important and its coming, whether we like it or not. Nevada has allowed driverless Google cars on its roads...is your state next?
Automotive News - 5/14/12
"Distracted drivers are a hot topic these days. A combination of federal and state rules will be needed to regulate the distractions.
The federal government gets to regulate the vehicle and the states get to regulate driver behavior, which means it will be almost impossible to have uniform standards among 50 states.
Meanwhile, another move is afoot to remove the driver from the equation: experimental vehicles that drive without drivers. Sort of the ultimate autopilot.
You have to applaud efforts to reduce the number of highway accidents, injuries and deaths. But we must be careful when getting involved with regulations affecting the vehicle and the driver.
For years I have railed about the lack of consistent rules for people who drive under the influence of alcohol. States and local jurisdictions vary widely with their enforcement of drunken-driving regulations and the consequences for violators.
If we want to save the most lives and prevent the most injuries, we should go after drunken drivers first, with a real fervor, and see if we can finally get them off the road.
But beyond regulating drunken drivers, reducing the other real and potential driver distractions in a vehicle is a daunting task. I am not sure what it will take. Maybe the vehicle's cockpit should look something like that of an airplane. But even then, in a much better environment, it is still impossible to get rid of all the potential distractions.
One solution would be to remove the possibility of driver error by having a machine take over the driving tasks -- and there are many in and out of government who see that as the best potential solution.
But there are still millions of drivers in the United States who enjoy driving and want to continue being in control of the vehicle. The long-term solution may be for the driver to eliminate all distractions from the task or lose the privilege. It comes down to continual education from a person's first exposure to driving. It could save thousands of lives".
You can reach Keith Crain at [email protected].
Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/2012...#ixzz1uqPeRE8q
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