the tuesday tirade

So, this whole recent seeming increase in close calls, hit and runs locally and nationally both with motorcyclists and bicyclists I broke down and decided that when I'm dictator all electronic aids will have to come out of the cars. No more cars that can drive themselves. No lane straying warnings, no automatic slowing down if you get to close, no cell phones, no traveling wifi hot spots, no DVD players, no game consoles, no interface like your computer to change the HVAC system in the car. KNOBS. F*CKING KNOBS F*CKING WORK. M'kay? Make them mechanical. No multi-touch-function screens for controls. Nav system? Not allowed. People will bitch and whine but wow, I wonder HOW THE F*CK DID YOU GET ANYWHERE 10 YEARS AGO? Seriously? HOW DID YOU DO IT??? And I know putting the * instead of a U doesn't do much. So what.

Anyway. I originally said no radio. But you know? Radio is okay. They can be operated with knobs. And should be. Cell phones should be deactivated at speeds over a walk or something. If you are moving you can't use them.

Nav Systems? Get them out. Throw em away. Some people make the argument (il bruce) that his sales force couldn't survive without them. Well how the hell did they survive before, and to that whit, if they are sales people shouldn't they fucking know their own territory? As in be able to get from one call to the next without a fucking GPS voice telling you where to go? Yes I've got friends how have to go to meetings here or there and use them all the time, I have to hear about it. What I have observed but not really told them, is that before they had their killer phone with navigation or gps in the car, they paid more fucking attention to the road and road signs and all that stuff, they didn't find themselves in positions and places where the GPS needed to rescue them. not to mention all the stories of people's GPS taking them a LONG way around and people being completely oblivious as to the fact that there is a faster way to get there.

Back to the radio. I would have gone insane with that commute in michigan. But as it was the distance was so far and along a particular stretch where I jumped from one station to another and it kind of sucked. Sat radio would have been nice. But here's the thing. In the car there should be only ONE souce, not one for every passenger. Don't like the driver's music? Well learn to deal with it, or reach a compromise.

Maybe this is where the lack of peaceful conflict resolution starts. Take that text message beating the other day for example. Parents resolve conflict with gadgets and isolation. Here, you don't like listening to that? Have an iPod and listen to your own stuff. Don't like sharing the computer or phone? Have your own. Solving problems by tossing money and gadgets at them. Bored in the car? Here's a DVD system to keep you occupied.

Sorry.

getting worked up and tangentialized. Not everyone is going to agree with me even to the smallest level.

One thing is wrong though people are getting cars with less and less training than in the past. I had to take a freaking long ass in depth driver's training course. It wasn't easy and I learned a ton. Heck there's more retraining and testing for dealing with haz waste here than there is driving. People can't as easily kill people with a mis-labeled container as they can with a car and distracted driving.

The final driving decree in my dictatorship will be mandatory retesting of all drivers ever two years, both a written and simulator test. Requirement to get your license is a score of 90% or higher on each test. If you can't? Then get ON THE BUS and let a professional drive you (and yeah if you are getting paid to drive you'd better not be on the phuc'n phone - talk on your own damn time - when you aren't responsible for all those lives behind you and around you). So yeah. Maybe more people would have to take public transport or *gasp* ride a bike. Oh the HORROR.

I had a bunch of other stuff in an outline but it will have to wait...

Drive like you actually care about the people around you and in the car. I know it is hard. Some people can do it better than others and it is a hard distinction to make. And maybe freeways are okay places to use phones and drive. Limited access, no pedestrians or store fronts or cyclists to run over while you are talking on the phone. Just other drivers in armored vehicles. Maybe that is a compromise.

It should be getting safer out there, but it isn't. occupants are being protected better but there is no regard to the safety of the people outside that fucking steel cage.

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