It seems to me that full-force ABS braking at 9 mph would have a high probability of deploying the airbags…which would total the car, blackberry, and beads. The driver would most likely suffer strange blackberry-shaped wounds, too.

Mark30339 on December 14, 2008 at 8:32 PM

Not only is she a danger to navigation with bad taste in decor, but she also has ‘man-hands’.

Mercedes, Infiniti, & Lexus all are offering this system – the phase in of automatic control. Auto-adjusting cruise control has now been around for a few years. I still think GPS is too imperfect to auto control, a wire will need to be imbedded in the road

As I said above, in 30 years or so all major highways will be auto-control, and you won’t be allowed on them with a car that isn’t equipped for it. Eventually (another 30 years, maybe) you’ll just get in a car, punch up an address, and it’ll take you there. ‘Driving’ will be an archaism, like ‘dialing’ the telephone.

Spending the rest of their days in a wheelchair will give them ample time to reorganize thier priorities.

I hope that will make you happy, as you’ll be spending the rest of that person’s days writing checks for fresh tires on the wheelchair, home care assistance, lost income, etc.

I guess I need to spell out to some folks that I was using hyperbole (/h?). I thought the ridiculousness of the statement was apparent. Pardon my assumption of cognizance. For the record, I don’t want to cripple anyone (except the journalist animal who chucked his loafers at the President of the United States of America).

This thing by Volvo is a start, I mean a stop.

Wake up, and get rid of the Mardi Gras beads, too.

But those are an important warning indicator to other drivers that the car belongs to a bad driver (i.e., anyone who’d willingly hang something from their mirror to block their view), and that they should stay as far away as possible.

Unrepaired body damage is another such indicator. It means that the driver is prone to hit things and/or is underinsured, since if the damage were someone else’s fault or they had enough coverage, they would have gotten it fixed.

I’ll still slow down for tailgaters, whether it’s a Volvo or not.

You’d better do so only if you’re already in the rightmost lane, or as you’re moving over to let them pass. Otherwise, you’re just as much of a jerk as the tailgater.

Spending the rest of their days in a wheelchair will give them ample time to reorganize thier priorities.

I hope that will make you happy, as you’ll be spending the rest of that person’s days writing checks for fresh tires on the wheelchair, home care assistance, lost income, etc.

Priuses may soon be added to that list

Are you kidding? They knocked Volvos off the list years ago. Nothing against Toyota, as it was an amazing engineering achievement on their part to design a car that runs on smug liberal self-righteousness and passive aggression.

In the second, a nine inch dagger with an explosive charge is embedded in the steering column, programmed to instantly kill the driver if the vehicle ever touches another car.

I’ve been saying for years that people would drive a hell of a lot better if their cars had a rusty spike protruding out from the steering column toward the driver.

I hate the idea of “auto-brake” technology: it’s just an enabler of unsafe and inattentive driving habits. When people rely on technology to drive for them, they use it as an excuse to let their own alertness and other skills atrophy. It started with automatic transmissions: people who can’t be bothered to learn how to clutch and shift are usually not very skillful drivers otherwise either. Then, GPS navigation systems proliferated, and now people are forgetting how to find their way around with a simple map.

I truly hate it when people associate car models with stereotyping the people driving them.

Sorry, but stereotypes usually have some basis in reality. There are counterexamples to every trend, of course — you may be one — and as I pointed out earlier, the “under-the-speed-limit-in-the-left-lane-Volvo-driver” has been largely replaced by the Prius driver, but there were enough such Volvo drivers once upon a time to make it a truthful stereotype. Certain cars attract certain types of buyers more than others; that’s a simple fact.

Trying to control the amount of space that another driver keeps is generally a wasted effort. You control the space ahead of you … unless you leave so much that someone else cuts in and takes it. This is negative-sum behavior, but if you leave way too much space, you are encouraging it. This hurts not only you but the people in the lane behind you.

njcommuter on December 14, 2008 at 10:20 AM

Sure, others come in and grab that space in front of you, but they don’t stay long; they are in and out so quickly that I usually don’t even have to adjust for them. As far as the effect on drivers behind you, by leaving some space the play with you can make a much smoother drive for everyone behind you. My “sport” is to see how far I can go in rush hour without having to use my brakes, and still maintain the pace of the traffic. That really forces you to pay attention not only to what is in front of you, but also to what is wa-a-ay in front of you, and alongside you too.

I suspect this will make drivers even lazier.

Lehosh on December 14, 2008 at 10:43 AM

Yep, sure will. And that is NOT what is needed.

A better device would be a cell-phone-jammer installed in every vehicle to prevent you from using the phone at all.

tx2654 on December 14, 2008 at 11:01 AM

An even better device would be one that emits a signal that ‘wipes’ your Blackberry or cell phone, and all those of your passengers, too. You would probably remember that…

Does not play well with others. Uses superior size and strength to bully and cow smaller children on the playground. Fails to heed warnings by playground authorities concerning correct social behavior.

unclesmrgol on December 14, 2008 at 3:05 PM

Slower traffic keep right…….it’s the law.

Unfortunately, highway engineers are fools and put the signs on the RIGHTHAND SIDE OF THE ROAD……D’oh!!

Anyone driving 70+MPH in the left lane is fine by me (assuming the other lanes are moving more slowly, which can be rare here in Cali. where drivers go 75+ consistantly on the highways.)

Yogi?

whitetop on December 14, 2008 at 12:13 PM

Not that I know of, but it certainly sounds like him.

I know a ton of New Yorkers (people born and bred in NY) who do not even have driver’s licenses.

Outlander on December 14, 2008 at 12:35 PM

I don’t know a ton, but a good friend of mine is the same. He came down to Texas for college and considered getting a license then but just never did. It was much harder not to have one here, but he made it somehow.

California recently passed laws against using cell phones while driving. I was behind a driver in an SUV a week ago with an out-of-state plate on his big fat rear-end, going very slowly, weaving from side to side. Guess what his silhouette looked like from behind: hand holding something to ear, as he tooled merrily down two lanes of traffic, brake lights sparkling intermittently. Jerk.

I dare anyone to slam on their brakes in front of me and my 4×4 while tailgating (usually to advise the driver ahead of me that the left lane is not a wise choice when they want to creep along at 55 mph here in California).

omnipotent on December 14, 2008 at 10:46 AM

Does not play well with others. Uses superior size and strength to bully and cow smaller children on the playground. Fails to heed warnings by playground authorities concerning correct social behavior.

sheebe on December 14, 2008 at 1:24 PM

I love me a Lancia.