Is New Technology Creating Bad Drivers?
By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist
I got into writing about cars because I enjoy driving — which is why I sometimes find myself less and less interested in new cars.
As our roads have congealed into mobile parking lots where it doesn’t matter whether you’re driving a ’78 Chevette or brand-new Corvette; as the automakers fall over each other in their frantic scramble to idiot-proof their products against an ever-less-competent driving public; as traffic laws become more and more over the top, the joy of new cars — even very powerful ones — wanes.
What, after all, is the point of owning a 500 horsepower Ford GT or Corvette Z06 in a world where using even half of that capability (if you can find a place to do so) risks a felony? (Driving faster than 80 mph in many states can subject you to immediate curbside arrest and a few days in the clink — if the judge doesn’t like your looks.)
And that’s just the law. Other forces are also hard at work to suck the joy out of the driving experience.
For example, most new performance cars have some kind of “dynamic” or “active” electronic controller that will only permit so much hooliganism. Spinning the tires is either not allowed at all — or severely limited — by the electronics. There indeed may be an “off” button, but these system sometimes don’t shut themselves all the way off.
The transistorized nanny is a suffocating omnipresence that makes driving even a very high-powered car far less engaging than driving a non-neutered car of far less potential capability. Having 100 percent control of a “50 percent car” is better, in my mind, than having 50 percent control of a 100 percent car.
The automakers are systematically working to take the driver out of the equation; it may not be deliberate — and is probably more due to the convergence of piranha lawyers on the one hand and mewling mobs of “safety” advocates on the other. Still, the end result is the same: New cars are increasingly defined by the presence of “perpetual training wheels” that not only presume incompetence — but arguably encourage more of it.
For instance, consider the electronic parking system Lexus now offers on its top-of-the-line LS-series luxury sedan. Using sensors, an electronic brain and various actuators, the thing is capable of sizing up a potential parking space, determining how the wheels should be cocked, and basically driving itself into the spot. It’s fascinating stuff — from a technical standpoint. But it must be asked: If a person is lacking the skills to safely and efficiently guide his car into a parking spot without help from a computerized wet nurse, perhaps this person needs a few remedial hours of “behind the wheel” training, eh?
And what do we make of “lane departure” warning systems that beep at you if the car begins to wander over the double yellow line? Is it asking too much to ask that drivers actually pay attention to what the car is doing? Didn’t that used to be part of the job description?
The nut of it is that these “advances” result in drivers who are detached from the act of driving; “drivers” who are more and more like passengers — regardless of seating position. It’s not too hard to imagine a future car of five years hence that will handle the entire job, curb to curb. We can then read our paper, or check our e-mail (and stuff our increasingly obese selves) with abandon.
But it’s a pretty bleak thing to contemplate for those who can recall a better time, when driving well was a skill to be proud of and which took some time to acquire. When cars were more elemental and yes, even a little bit scary — and demanded our full time and attention. Learn to master something like an old F100 pick-up with three on the tree (and no hydraulic assist for the clutch) and you came away from it with a sense of accomplishment. Generally speaking, we’re competent to drive virtually anything on wheels in a way that today’s kids, who grew up with “modern” cars, can’t begin to appreciate.
It’s a shame for them — because they’re missing out on some great experiences. And it bodes ill for the future — because the skill level of the typical driver is sure to get worse, not better. That will require more built-in idiot-proofing technology — and more “for our own good” dumbed-down traffic laws. With advances in technology — such as photo radar and GPS tracking, it may soon be impossible to exceed the speed limit without immediate repercussions — if it’s even possible to “speed” at all.
I’m glad I got my licks in before things got ugly….
Comments?
www.ericpetersautos.com
Image Credit: Erik Charlton
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Jeff the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second.
Randy & Jeff maybe if the car check his blind spot before moving into the other lane there would have been no accident.
Some people don’t know how to adjust their mirrors properly, position themselves properly, and most importantly they don’t know how to effectively check their blind spot.
Some people dart right into the lane when they are supposed to change lanes nice a gradually.
What is the speed of light?
Jeff you are a basket case. If everyone could just drive fast enough there would not be anyone in front of them or along side of them. All animals would also be behind them. I do not know what speed that is though Jeff. Is it 150 mph or is it the speed of light.
Hi, there is such thing as blind spot indicators but my car doesn’t have one. I know my mirrors are not adjusted properly. Whats the proper mirror adjustsmet?
How does Randy know what speed they were travelling at? If the SUV had been driving faster, it would have passed the other vehicle before it changed lanes thus not causing an accident.
Randy you said “As far as that accident we were talking about it more than likely was caused by someone that did not check their blind spot but the speed that they were traveling at caused the car that got bumped into to roll over 8 times. Traveling slower that would not have happened.” You have truth in what you said and I do agree with you. Yes since they were traveling at around at 75 mph that would probably cause the suv rolled over around 8 times if it swerved. Maybe if they were going around 50 mph the suv would have rolled over only 1-2 times and maybe if they went slower the like at 35 mph the suv would not have rolled over. Randy it if it was the car that swerved it probably would not have rolled over like the suv. (POINT 1) It really doesn’t take that much for an suv without stability control to roll over. A video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr0_UDCRk00&feature=related demonstrates point 1 perfectly. The suv in that video was probably going around 60 mph. (POINT 2) If the suv had stability control it will be harder to roll it over. A video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nss5EUAScag&NR=1 demonstrates point 2 perfectly.
You also said “Everyone here says that speed does not cause any accidents which is false but also when speed is not the cause it makes the accident a lot worse.” Randy speed alone does not kill but speeding too fast for conditions can contribute to the cause of an accident. Speed does make things worse if an accident occurs.
Todd I either saw that video before or something very close to it.
As far as that accident we were talking about it more than likely was caused by someone that did not check their blind spot but the speed that they were traveling at caused the car that got bumped into to roll over 8 times. Traveling slower that would not have happened. Everyone here says that speed does not cause any accidents which is false but also when speed is not the cause it makes the accident a lot worse.
Randy it seems to me that the driver who caused the 3rd crash did not look in his blind spot before changing lanes. Checking your blind spot once when making a lane change is not enough. I always check my blind spot twice when making a lane change (I first look in my blind spot before I start to move into the lane and a second look in my blind spot as I am moving into my lane). If your driving an average size car it should only take you about 0.5 seconds to take a good look in your blind spot.
I also found a crazy video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j3w1QfV35I
Watch the whole video. The crazy part happens after the officer walks back to his car.
To Randy & Jeff:
Back in the 90s, because of my son’s karate tournaments, I used to drive my 1985 Pontiac Parisenne up to 40,000 miles per year. Over the life of this car (currently at about 270,000 miles) I would get about 1 speeding ticket every 25,000 miles (about the circumference of the earth). That may not seem like much but over time it adds up.
I used to think that a good compromise would be to usually set the cruise control at about 5 over and generally stay in the right lane. The problem with that is the right lane would occasionally contain someone going at or below the speed limit. When I would look in my rearview mirror, as often as not would be another car going ever so slightly faster than I. My choice then would be to turn up the wick or brake.
If the interstate were more like the autobahn we would have a different set of problems although the autobahn has a slightly better safety record and that has to count for something considering that the speeds are much higher. Just as many or perhaps more citations are written on the autobahn but not very much for speeding. As long as you maintain proper lane discipline, don’t follow too closely and don’t give impolite gestures you can get by with driving.
In the United States, by contrast, speed limits are enforced according to location and time. My last speeding ticket, my 10th and last on the Parisenne, which was in the summer of 2001, was a bogus ticket. Oddly enough it was that one that caused me to become what the National Motorists Association calls an extreme law abider. I became this type of driver because I didn’t want any more speeding tickets. It wasn’t a safety issue. In fact I now consider myself a more dangerous driver than I was before.
The accident was caused by a Chicago driver not paying attention to the road.
Gotta love how those Ohio cops can run 120mph when the maximum legal speed in Ohio is 65mph. I guess even the cops do not obey the speed limits.
I would guess the third crash was caused by Jeff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp23E0R94nE
The video shows the everyday occurances that happen in Michigan due to their need for speed.
What’s wrong with driving above an underposted speed limit? 99.9% of Americans did it back in the 55 days and the world did not come to an end. Actually, traffic moved more smoothly.
To Edwin L. Caldwell
Edwin I do agree with what you are saying. Sometimes I travel above the speed limit if it is safe to do so and I keep up with traffic. I never tailgate another driver no matter how slow they are going. Just to put it simple I have alot of tolerance when it comes to driving. As for the driver on the cell phone talking stories with their friends that is really not appropriate driving behavior. Bluetooth technology which allows a driver to keep both hands on the wheel while talking on the phone is excellent when it comes to drivers making calls while their on the road for appropriate reasons (Not making a call to talk stories with their friends).
To Todd:
My Prius is my 3rd front wheel drive car but the first to have traction control. I still have my Prius and I really like it but I don’t like traction control. When my Dad died I got Mom’s Nissan Maxima SE as she needed his SUV to step up in rather than fall down into the Maxima. The Maxima had an off switch for its traction control system. There are times when you need to turn off such a system. You can’t do that in the Prius. An example where you don’t want a TCS is when you want to fight your way up an icy or snowy hill. The Prius just stops under such circumstances. My 1987 Buick Century would have climbed that troublesome hill but my Prius didn’t trust me enough to allow me to make the attempt!
By most driver’s are idiots what I meant was that they have a rather nasty habit of tailgating me. I won’t run from them for fear of what I call State Sponsored Armed Extortion (Smokey). The closer they get the more difficult it is for me to pull over and let them around. My only somewhat safe and legal option then is to slow down to limit the damage they could do to me in a rear ender. As often as not they just get even closer and I go even slower. If they would just back off I would do the speed limit until I found a safe place to pull over to let them around. Yes, I know the speed limit is somewhere between 15 and 30 MPH below what the road is engineered for but that is the way it is and I intend to follow the law. Its not my fault that 95% of the other drivers are going at least somewhat over the speed limit.
Another example of driver idiocy is distraction. Cell phones are the worst but there are other distractions. The most fearsome driver I encounter is the cell phone tailgater, very dangerous. I also don’t like drivers who park in more than one parking place in a crowded parking lot. Drivers seem to me to be very thoughtless and selfish.
To Edwin L. Caldwell
You said “Modern cars are designed for idiots and most drivers I encounter are idiots.” What do you mean by that? Please explain yourself in detail about what you said. I’m just curious.
Thank You!
When my son was a boy we would talk at bedtime. One time we talked about what his first car would be like. I told him it would large, clunky and old. I told him it would be a real handful. I told him it would not have automatic transmission. He looked concerned and wondered if he could drive such a beast.
It turned out to be a 1963 Chevolet Impala 2-door hardtop with a 3 on the tree, no power steering, no air conditioning and a Ford 350 V-8 motor from a pick-up truck. It sat in our garage too long so when our son got admitted to mechanics class we had it towed to the high school and it became his school project.
It turned out that none of his friends could drive this car. I guess that offset the lack of seatbelts somewhat. In the state of Indiana you don’t have to take driver’s education in high school. Our idea of driver’s education was to let our son drive a go-cart on a racetrack full of agressive adults at Kentucky Kingdom when he was 9 years old. He kicked their butts good! Modern cars are designed for idiots and most drivers I encounter are idiots.
As many new drivers wreck their first car so did he. I tell my friends that the way my son wreaked his first car was that he was not properly managing his tailgator. You got to watch that rear view mirror unless you are driving an F-350 Super-Duty or other such monster. Otherwise you have to go 10 maybe 20 under the speed limit and take 2 to 5 times as long to stop or make a turn.
Anyway my son now has a class A commercial dirver’s licence and drives the big rigs. He never did get any training but his boss did tell him to go out to the parking lot and park all those trucks that had been parked so poorly. His boss said to back them in and make the parking lot look real neat.
GM no longer offers ABS as standard equipment on many of it’s vehicles for cost reduction reasons.
Well I do like the safety devices on cars such a ABS, EBD, ESP, OPDS, TCS, ASR, etc just as long as they have an off switch to disable themselves to 100%. Taking total control away from the driver is not right and sucks the fun out from driving. I do feel that the gov’t needs to enforce the right laws to an appropriat measure and I do feel that measures for improve roads are important. But one thing that I am totally against is when the safety devices, safety advocates, gov’t, becomes to controlling over people. I feel that safety should be enforce to a fair extant but at the same time not taking the fun out of the driving experiance. Driving is a wonderful skill, and nice performances vehicles are a beautiful thing. Those safety advocates should stop trying to be so controling and being so overly worried because not all drivers have incompetence written all over their faces. Safety is important and I believe that reasponsible drivers should have the right to nice performance cars with no insane safety features like speed nannys and that they have a birth right to a fun driving experiance. Its the reckless drivers that should pay for their actions, that should have speed nannys, and driving taken away from them. Just because some drivers are bad does not mean that good drivers that like vehicles as a hobby should be affected by it. I really hate speed governors!!! I hate controlling gov’ts, insane safety advocates, etc. I stand for freedom, appropiate laws that protect people but at the same time a law that is not to controlling and respects the “car hobbys of people” and leaves the pure joy of driving alone.
P.S. Sorry for the grammer mistakes.
The dumbing down of drivers in America started with the lure of the automatic transmission. We were all convinced by the sirens song that our left foot and right arm had something better to do than participate in driving the vehicle. We were told we were just working too hard sitting in that seat and moving that pedal and gear shifter. The current state of driving in the automatic world? I now see people driving with their foot out the window (hey, what else does it have to do right?) and their right hand doing anything from sending a text message to wrangling some lipstick. Don’t get me started on the guy in the dark green Camry I see pretty often on my commute into RTP with his newspaper draped over his steering wheel at 65mph.
Personally I’ve never owned a car with an automatic. I believe they shouldn’t even be offered to the general public without a qualifying medical condition. But thats just my opinion.
ABS/ESP/whatever you call the electronic leash your car is on. Not a big fan of this stuff either. Ok, ABS does have a benefit BUT no one uses it for its intended purpose. It is a very common misconception that ABS stops the car faster. It doesn’t. What ABS does do is allow you to control the car under maximum braking. This is a wonderful thing to be able to do if the driver has the skill to use it. Sadly few have this skill. I am an instructor for a high performance driving school and braking is one if the first lessons we work on with someone once we get past the track safety and situational awareness stuff. I’ve had people email me later and say how the braking skills they learned at the track prevented an collision on the road.
If you want to be passengers then get out of the left seat and let a professional take the wheel. Dumbing down the requirements for the driver is going to mushroom into a serious problem for the future. Drivers will become less and less skilled and when things go wrong the panic will cause you to make the wrong decision. Computers can only do so much.
For those that don’t want to be the problem, find a performance driving school and go spend a weekend at the track. You’ll learn a lot about your car and and more importantly, yourself. I promise it will be the most fun you’ve had with your car in a long time (in the front seat at least). The life you save could be yours, your kids, or even mine.
Further troubling is the fact that the internal combustion engine is bound to be on its way out, given all the worry over peak oil and global warming.
I’m a very talented programmer by trade and it was always my hobby growing up. Modding my car has become my hobby in adulthood. And things will just never be the same with electric cars.
How do you soup up an electric car? You can’t attach a turbocharger or work on the exhaust system. You can’t tweak the timing.
Bigger motors? Send them off for additional winding? Put a bunch of 1 fared capacitors under the hood to simulate nitrous?
I guess it’s a happy accident that we’re able to have this much fun now, and I’m glad to say I’m getting to enjoy it while it still lasts.