What use is “safety” technology if it doesn’t work when conditions are less safe? As when it is foggy out, for instance? Or when there is snow or ice that blinds the external cameras that are critical to the operation of these “safety” technologies?
I was out driving in heavy fog the other day and the “safety” tech in the 2025 Infiniti QX80 I am driving this week went into a state of catalepsy – systems offline! – because the cameras could not see through the fog. Luckily, I know how to drive; more finely, I do not depend upon “safety” technology in order to drive . . . safely. Competence is something that doesn’t go away because it’s foggy or rainy or snowy outside. That is the beauty of the thing.
But what of the driver who does depend on “safety” technology? More finely, what of the driver who has been rendered dependent upon it? Who has never developed competence behind the wheel because he was raised in the Era of Safety – which is also the Era of Passivity? Such a driver becomes implicitly unsafe when the “technology” is not working or cannot work.
Consider the implications of this.
Is it not probable that, at some point in the probably not-too-distant future – when most drivers have been taught to depend upon “safety” technology – and never learned how to drive safely without it – it will be declared “unsafe” for anyone to drive when conditions are such that the “technology” may not work on account of conditions?
Rain (and certainly snow) Lockdowns are coming. In my area, the federal Park Police who effectively own the Blue Ridge Parkway – because they control it and so determine when and whether we are allowed to use it – routinely close the Parkway if it might snow. The gates come down – and often stay down – for days or even weeks, if even a little snow actually falls. On the other roads, the ones owned (because they are controlled state and local authorities) it is common to encounter drivers who drive in anticipation of snow, too. They reduce their speed to well below the speed limit – because it might snow. They have been well-trained.
Is it not the logical dead-end of Safetyism? The lockdowns are coming. Probably beginning at dusk, too. Because driving at night is risky, too.
Expect it. Depend upon it.
. . .
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Just thinking of the recent fires and how people had to escape many at night driving through smoke and fire. They needed their cars to just get them out of there. Cannot even imagine weather lockdowns.
Safety and Enviornmentalism are the most corrosive ideologies of our time. Even more so than “communism,” “leftism” and “radical Marxism,” as Shawn Hannity called it. Those ideologies called for control over the means of produciton and restrictions on ideolgies that were the opposite of the party line. Fine.
Safety and environmentalism are far more insidious and pervasive. They invade people of many ideolgies. “Conservatives”, “liberals”, progressives and even some libertarians are responsive to its coercion and some grow to love it.
My brother, ostensibly a “conservative” neocon Republican loved it when the government lowered the speed limit to 55 in response to the energy crisis. It was saaaaaaaaaaaaafe. It saved gaaaaaaaaaaas.
Many people I met along the way seem to accept the status quo when it comes to vehicle saaaaaafety and driver aaaaasistaaaance features. Even die hard libertarians seem to think that its okay for manufacturers to build this crap. Of course it should be a choice, but many choose it anyway, not really having much of a choice. How many have spoken up about it?
Safetyism creeps into other aspects of life as well. The response of the public to mask mandates and vaccine threats spanned all ideologies and beliefs. It nearly drove me insane. But, people love to show off how saaaaaafe they feeeel. Think about the damage that was done by the COVID response. It exposed our vulnerabilities to bullshit and exposed what a bunch of sniveling rats most of us are.
On the plus side, I think that many people are waking up to the broader coercion. Or at least they are coming out of the woodwork. That’s a positive sign.
Oh well.
I read a book years ago about wild weasel missions in Vietnam. There were so many caution, warning, alert audio and visual indicators that the pilots would yank the fuse so they could concentrate. Cars are to the same point. If only it was as simple as pulling a fuse.
Wish I would have kept my toyota truck. Basic but probably would have been able to keep rebuilding it as long as the frame was good.
Youngsters relying on the tech never develop past rudimentary driving skill levels.
Learning to drive in a V8 rear wheel drive car you needed to learn quick on wet or icy roads otherwise it was into the ditch. Horsing around in a snowy parking lot was a relatively “safe” way to figure out steering into a skid just enough to avoid the 360 without fishtailing the other direction. Now it’s “Jesus take the wheel” good luck youngins.
My recently deceased older brother….left me with a “Car comparison”….
2002 Dodge Intrepid (89k miles and garaged Mom’s car) v 2024 leased Honda TLX..or Z???.
There is NO comparison! Driving the Dodge is a blast though it’s slightly larger than I’m used to…The basic fob just opens and locks doors with only the seat belt thing bleating away…
The Honda is creepy….detailing everything you do, the thing is just electronic “push buttons”..
You can keep that piece of modern shit…
While planning my next “road trip”….in the near future…to some Terra Incognita place called
“Cape Cod National Seashore”……I will depend on “The Intrepid one”…as my vehicle of choice!
I’ll have to look up whether or not I’ll need a yellow fever inoculation…..
Onward through the fog…..
I wish I’d kept the 2005 Grand Cherokee for the same reasons plus it was road trip heaven for quiet and comfort all day drives.
Open the hood and look for the battery in the Intrepid.
Oh yeah…..I forgot to mention Big Bro was a Tesla acolyte (artsy fartsee) Architect…did great work for Clients, however as with most New Englanders….they have brains…BUT totally lack Critical Thinking skills!!!!!!
“The Poison Ivy League”……..!!
Must admit one thing …… the estate lists the per share price of his substantial position in TSLA as $10/sh……I guess even a broken clock, is correct twice a day???
That is the problem I have with most recent tech. It’s so fragile. Then hard or impossible to fix when it does break.
Mechanical things are often far better when it comes to less than perfect conditions.
“ Mechanical things are often far better when it comes to less than perfect conditions “
An example is “opera lighting” in recent (12 years?) refrigerators. What a waste. I got a large but basic side by side, no ice no water. However, the LED opera lighting has failed three times. I don’t give a damn if the lights come on slowly I just want to see the food. Whirlpool replacement is $150, no thanks. Knockoffs lasted about the same as OEM. Finally a Chicom knockoff $30 that skips the opera and just pops on and off. Two years in no failure. The old school 15w screw in bulbs didn’t mind the cold and damp.
I just threw an old incandescent into the fridge…so much better. I would actually dread opening the thing at night when my eyes were used to the dark. The horrible blast of super bright LED light was terrible. I would look away eyes closed and feel around for what I needed. It was like a middle eastern owned smoke shop in there.
Personal safety/risk is my concern and mine alone. Government is unwelcome. But since when has being unwelcome stopped a government worker?
Without government busybodies, these “safety” features in vehicles would be OPTIONAL, if they existed at all.
In the first place, safety is an illusion. Weather by violence, disease, or accident, we all eventually die. Nobody gets out alive.
With my 2018 Camry, if I am not careful to avoid the section of the windshield in front of the cameras when applying RainX, I will receive messages about camera failure when driving at night or in fog.
All of the safety features giving warnings will drive you nuts and the road rage arrives. They’re bugs, not features, and I hate bugs.
Leave me alone, I can drive. Must think you are blind or something.
Wheels, good tires, brakes, headlights, good suspension, steering column that is responsive.
Some gauges, speedometer, fuel, oil, coolant, temperature is important, there is the motor, has to run so you can go places.
Up to you to maintain what you have. What more do you want?
Who doesn’t want transportation that is private? You have your own vehicle, good for you. There are no buses, trains, or planes to bother with.
Where’s the 5000 dollar check for every household Trump talked about in the beginning of his reign?
What a fraud, chump too. Bibi gets 30 billion, the poor saps get hell.
More to rant about all of the time.
“My ’97 VW GTI wouldn’t run when the sunroof motor crapped out (this happened more than once). I can’t imagine that under current computerization that it would be easy to trigger a total shutdown should the laser for auto-braking, etc. couldn’t do its job.”
Yeah, well, German.
Anyone who buys any BMW, Mercedes or Audi – let alone VW, with this saaaaaefty technology is especially nuts.
We hear quite often from TV pundits that the job of government is to keep us safe. No, as Judge Napolitano stated, the job of our constitutional government is to keep us free. Or as the Civil Rights Lawyer-John Bryan Youtube closes with, our rights don’t end where your fear begins. Freedom is scary, deal with it.
I’m going to have to disagree with the good judge here.
The job of the constitution was to enslave us. That’s why they did away with the Articles of Confederation.
The Judge doesn’t say the Constitution is our protector, he says in the abstract government’s job is to protect freedom while acknowledging flaws in the transformation from Declaration to Articles to Constitution. He’s of the libertarian pragmatists. One can be absolutely correct in abstract but still end up dead or in prison in practical. Thus flawed document as it may be, strict adherence to an originalist Constitution wouldn’t be a wholly bad situation in real life.
‘No State shall … make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.’ — Art 1, Sec 10
That’s nice. But what about the fedgov itself? The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 drove a truck through this incoherent, incompetent drafting, as did Ape Lincoln half a century earlier with his greenback wartime scrip.
“To counterfeit is Death” — 6-pound New Jersey colonial note, 1761
https://tinyurl.com/2c5vmf7u
Thing is, the cameras and lidar equipment could be tuned to work outside of atmospheric absorption and see right through fog and rain like it wasn’t there. Polarizers help too. That might actually be useful. But it would also cost a lot more. Much cheaper to design with optics that shut down when human eyes do.
Maybe the 2027 models will have AI to help guess what might be in the fog ahead…
Precisely. Technology is there to do what they’re selling but not at the price they want to (or at least profit margin they want). The scam is giving superficial lip service to being safe and effective but no one really wanting to put in the effort or cost to implement actual measurable improvements.
This stuff is all just a gimmick to make cars look hi-tech.
I agree, RK –
But I also say it is more than just that. This “tech” is about advancing – incrementally – control over what were once our vehicles. To render us passengers more than drivers.
Certainly a red line if the ‘car’ says I can’t drive the car cause of X. Or even if the ‘car’ says it must obey……………
As is the case with so much of the computerized/AI’ed tech it’s great when it works but, when it fails there is no “fixing” it. Your assertion that we may be prevented from driving should conditions such as fog limit the tech’s ability to function.
My ’97 VW GTI wouldn’t run when the sunroof motor crapped out (this happened more than once). I can’t imagine that under current computerization that it would be easy to trigger a total shutdown should the laser for auto-braking, etc. couldn’t do its job.
BTW, my golf range finder won’t work in fog or rain…but I play anyway…