Posted on 06/11/2025 7:14:15 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
No, not only no, but HELL NO!!
Someone invents a new toy, and there are always those that just have to have one.
The mindset of many Americans is “New is better, bigger is better and high tech is better”. Not always, especially when it comes to digital devices.
Besides the obvious safety hazards and limitations driverless cars have, they also have potential risks the much loved cell phone has. Which means it can be hacked, it will have a perfect record of everyplace you’ve been, control can be hacked into and drive you where you don’t want to be, like off a cliff. Anything said can be overheard and recorded. It’s another way to take away freedom and control the public.
It can be said many new vehicles already have these drawbacks, but they can be defeated. I’ve defeated them on our vehicles.
One of my most memorable drives was from Mackinac City to Detroit. It’s about 250 miles.
We got in a pack of 5-6 other cars all bound for a similar destination. We hung together almost the whole way, switching out positions and making holes for each other. We ran about 90-100 mph. It was fun and safe. We made it home in an amazingly fast time. Obviously that was rural roads not in the city. But hey, I’m from Detroit where you’re not tailgating unless your bumpers are touching and turn signals are a sign of weakness.
I have no interest in a driverless cab. I don’t do Uber much but I actually enjoy meeting and conversing with drivers ad learning their stories.
Since I get carsick if I try to read in the car, I’d rather be an active participant
My son did pick up those traits. He’s a professional trucker. One day a couple years ago he was driving a dump truck (Normally runs semi’s) when a school bus full of kids pulled out of a side street right in front of him. A witness said it was kind of cool seeing a dump truck balanced on two wheels for 100 feet. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to save it and rolled the truck. God had his hand in it. He was basically uninjured.
The school bus driver actually fled the scene. She was later found and fired.
Defensive driving started for me with my early experiences on a motorcycle. That is a situation where defensive driving is a MUST if you wish to stay alive. I think it paid off, although I am constantly hearing from non-motorcyclists about how dangerous they are. I am a senior citizen with no chargeable accidents I am aware of.
I run studded snow tires.
That reminds me of the 4 rules of defensive driving I learned in driver’s ed around 50 years ago: 1) keep your eyes moving; 2) leave yourself an out; 3) get the big picture; 4) make sure the other guy sees you.
The only accident I’ve had was from a guy who t-boned the car blasting through a stop sign.
I was riding on a large motorcycle and just passed through a town square when I approached an intersection. I had the through-way and the opposing traffic had a stop sign. I had an odd feeling so I slowed down. Just as I began to enter the intersection, a Red Bronco blasted through the stop sign right in front of me.
I pulled into a feed store parking lot to get blood pressure down when the Bronco pulled up near me. I parked my bike and approached. It was an old woman with a child in the vehicle. She asked me if she had almost hit me. I calmly told her she ran the stop sign and if I hadn’t slowed before entering the intersection she would have gone right over me.
She apologized and I told the kid that my sisters and I counted Volkswagens during long car trips and now I can always pick them out. I asked her to count motorcycles so she will always see them when she’s driving.
Later, I told a coworker about it. She later approached me and asked if it was a WHITE Bronco. I said it was red. She asked if it was a little boy in the vehicle and I told her it was a girl.
I asked her why she had these odd questions and she said she just wanted to confirm who it was. It turned out the lady worked with her mother. Right after the incident, she called her daughter and told her she had ran a red light and a stop sign and almost hit a motorcycle. The daughter took her in for a medical check up. She had survived breast cancer but at the appointment they found the cancer came back and was in her brain.
I thank God that I kept my cool. I would have been justified to get ugly but it would not have helped anything.
My car is apparently a nightmare for repairs. To replace the air conditioner fan, for example, I would have to remove the accelerator pedal and a couple other things. I have replaced the cabin filter myself, but it required a screw driver to undo the glove compartment first (in a Honda Civic, you can just pop it out). I also replaced the air filter, but the stupid replacement wouldn’t fit inside the compartment at first, so a guy at O’Reilly Auto Parts helped me to get it in.
One repairman I know believes that if somebody wants to design automobiles, he should first be required to work in auto repair for a few years. That way, he would be less likely to design it in a way that complicates the h*ll out of things for repairmen.
How did I miss this? Thanks for sharing.
And don’t forget about changing a tire. I know how to do that, but the lug wrenches included with automobiles nowadays are these teeny-tiny, torqueless things that would require somebody with the strength of the Incredible Hulk to loosen machine-tightened lug nuts.
I’m almost 74. I tapped another car when I was 20. No damage. A couple years ago, I bumped a car in a parking lot. The guy had pulled up behind me when I was backing up in a snow blizzard. No damage. That’s it.
We have moved closer. The other son is about 12 miles away.
Well, good.
You are covered.
I should be so well situated.
The author is projecting this stupidity on everyone else.🤔
What a testimony! I’m glad you obeyed the inward witness. Nice tip on how to train yourself to notice things.
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