Driving for dummies…. or passing off our responsibility to drive safe
Though now 74, I can remember, back in the 60’s, when I was learning to drive a car for the first time. My parents were smart enough to realize that teaching me would be a nerve wracking experience so they signed me up for the AAA driving school, and to add a degree of difficulty they wanted me to learn on a stick. Now I have to admit it was a good move on their part especially since it reduced the cost of my insurance by 15% and of course they didn’t have to put up with any white knuckle experiences.
OK getting to the point……..
I vividly remember the instructor having me go down streets that were barely wide enough for two cars let alone two cars and a lane of parked cars, and the near fright I felt every time a car was heading towards me. This was again echoed, years later, when I was in truck driving school and for the first time driving a big rig with a trailer. The instructor must have been related to the one back when I was 16 because he choose the narrowest most busy city streets one could find in Philadelphia. Suffice it to say I got both my regular license and later in life my CDL.
Now we come to today or rather a few nights ago when I was watching television and the commercial for Hyundai’s Lane departure assist. In the commercial it shows a guy driving close to a tractor trailer and the lane departure alarm goes off both with an audio alarm and a visual. Cut to the same scene from the outside and we see a woman standing between the car and the big rig touting the need for this alarm…. as if the guy could not see a massive 12 foot tall trailer just feet from the side of his car.
The same goes for the commercial I also saw where an illustration showed the car surrounded by some kind of radar beam to protect the car from hitting any obstacle/person. The car in the commercial detected a car in front slowing down and it did the same to avoid a rear end crash, then as it resumed speed the driver touched a couple buttons and removed his hands from the steering wheel.
Sorry for the delayed response Pete, I was texting while driving 😬
Next thing you know they’ll tell us what we should read and think.
Yep, we’re headed down some one way road with no exits. I bet you miss the cabin.
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TBG thanks for the smile this morning, good way to start the day.
I do remember the uber cold winter mornings at the cabin
when at 9 am it was still black outside
and I sat sipping my tea
watching at the first signs of light braking over the top of the hill
……do I miss it
with every breath I take.
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Both of our cars have the lane departure warning, surprisingly enough on something as old as my ’09 Buick Lucerne. My wife’s Equinox has collision alert. Kind of irritating at times to just wander close to the stripe or line & they start beeping.
I’ve often said “I’m told old for this world.”
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