Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by heather s on March 11, 2010 at 11:57am

The New York Times ran a front page article today about cops and paramedics driving distractedly. It was pretty interesting, particularly considering that (in my experience) cops are the #1 violator of traffic laws at any given time, and I'm not talking about when the sirens are running.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/technology/11distracted.html?hpw

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on March 11, 2010 at 10:06pm

Duppie said:

If need be it will automatically brake the car. See a video

But that's the problem. People have become so reliant on technology that they break down when confronted in a situation without it. People don't think for themselves, they rely on the convenience of technology do it for them. Drivers feel "Safe" in their steel steeds.

I think everyone should ride a bike for a month, rain or snow, before getting a drivers license; at least in this city.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on March 11, 2010 at 10:11pm

Of course this brings me back to Step 1: Learn to use turn signals.

I drove the good ole Zip car tonight and the number one thing that pissed me off while driving, other drivers not using their turn signals. Seriously, what the hell is it with people? Why is it so hard to let everyone know where you intend to go at an intersection by flicking a god damn switch?

Humans are stupid!!!

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 12, 2010 at 1:45am

Seems like many of the most aware drivers are those who both ride and drive. It's no guarantee, though. I've seen people with car-mounted bike racks nearly door cyclists.

And about those turn signals, I agree that too many drivers forget that they exist, and that some don't do themselves any favors by waiting until the last possible second to turn them on. I had a close call the other night with a driver who didn't signal 'til the last second, then assumed that I'd seen his signal.

Ryan L said:

Duppie said:

If need be it will automatically brake the car. See a video

But that's the problem. People have become so reliant on technology that they break down when confronted in a situation without it. People don't think for themselves, they rely on the convenience of technology do it for them. Drivers feel "Safe" in their steel steeds.

I think everyone should ride a bike for a month, rain or snow, before getting a drivers license; at least in this city.

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on March 12, 2010 at 4:29am

Ryan L said:

But that's the problem.

I don't agree. If this kind of technology makes pedestrians and bicyclists safer, then I am all for it. I think the government should mandate it.
And that is exactly what the government does. Take airbags for example, first introduced in the late 1970's by 1995 the US government mandated dual second generation airbags in every new car.
I don't see why, if this pedestrian detection technology proves viable, the US government, in due time, won't mandate this in every car.

What's the alternative? "Demand" that drivers pay more attention? How would that work?

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 12, 2010 at 8:21am

It seems like most new safety technologies trickle down eventually from luxury models to midrange and eventually to all cars, things like seat belts, ABS brakes, airbags.... If this ped detection proves effective, I wouldn't be surprised we see it in more cars later.

Duppie said:

Ryan L said:

But that's the problem.

I don't agree. If this kind of technology makes pedestrians and bicyclists safer, then I am all for it. I think the government should mandate it.
And that is exactly what the government does. Take airbags for example, first introduced in the late 1970's by 1995 the US government mandated dual second generation airbags in every new car.
I don't see why, if this pedestrian detection technology proves viable, the US government, in due time, won't mandate this in every car.

What's the alternative? "Demand" that drivers pay more attention? How would that work?

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on March 12, 2010 at 9:02am

Ill tell you one thing I noticed last night on my little drive to and from the new Whole Foods on Kingsley, the amount of dingles on bikes, at night, that don't have a single light on 'em is retarded.

I can understand all the crazy cats that are too cool for school to wear a helmet, but come on guys, gals and hermaphrodites, get some lights on those bikes. I can't tell you how many cyclists I couldn't see till they were right next to me because they had no lights. The ones that did have lights, guess what, I knew they were there. Shoot, i've almost had two collisions with other cyclists at dark intersections because they had no lights. If I ever get hit by one of these invisible cool kids of the night, i'm gonna go medieval on 'em. There's more than one reason I carry an adjustable wrench on me at all times :)

Stupid Humans!!!

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on March 12, 2010 at 9:05am

LOL, I sound like an angry bitter old man in my posts. An angry old man that throws smoke bombs at cars while drunk that is. Ah the internet, what an interesting place to live.

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Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on March 12, 2010 at 9:40am

You live on the Internet? How's the rent? Are utilities included? I'm assuming Internet access is free.

Ryan L said:

LOL, I sound like an angry bitter old man in my posts. An angry old man that throws smoke bombs at cars while drunk that is. Ah the internet, what an interesting place to live.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on March 12, 2010 at 10:00am

Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:

You live on the Internet? How's the rent? Are utilities included? I'm assuming Internet access is free.

Ryan L said:

LOL, I sound like an angry bitter old man in my posts. An angry old man that throws smoke bombs at cars while drunk that is. Ah the internet, what an interesting place to live.

It's free for those that sell their soul!

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Permalink Reply by GabeW (not the other Gabe) on March 12, 2010 at 1:43pm

These are the kinds of discussions I would hope you're expecting me to jump into by now :)

I am against legislation that would ban computers from the front seats of cars, or other so called distracting technology while not driving. It's pandering to the lowest common denominator; another case of the reckless few ruining it for the rest of us. Why just last monday night I was sitting in the parking lot of the restaurant that the midwest subaru owners club -chicago city dwellers chapter - chose for it's weekly get together. I was in my friend's forester sti, my wrx was parked next to it. We were waiting for the others to arrive and he was adjusting the settings for the computer he had under the passenger seat - it's large display popped up from under the stock clock location in the center of the upper dash. The primary purpose of installing that computer was to allow him to retune the factory ecu that controls the engine parameters. We actually tune our cars to be cleaner and more efficient than when they leave the factory in japan, set up to run at either sea level or in Denver and other large tolerances that make the car dirtier, but work to a factory assigned "optimum" anywhere and everywhere(there's that lowest common denominator again). We tune to the local gas and conditions making the car more efficient and cleaner(and yes, more powerful and faster). In 5th gear he got a knock accelerating on the highway from very low rpms, so he went into the computer, and adjusted the fuel delivery at that specific point and load.

This is a hobby for us much like cycling and working on bikes is for many of you(and me), or tinkering with computers, or playing team sports, or spinning pottery, or knitting, or brewing beer, or restoring old furniture, or any other creative hands on outlet you can think of to keep yourself from going insane with the day to day.

The Itasca Subaru STI police cars have a saying on the back: "keep it on the track". That's what many of us do and I encourage any of you with a car to take it to an autocross or rallycross regardless of what kind of car it is. It's more challenging that you might think, and more rewarding too. Like one of my old friend's father used to say - "if you don't find motor-sports exciting, you've never been to a race in person." Carbon footprints aside, the human experience at a racetrack is second to none. (say, anyone ever enjoy the atmosphere of a crit or tour? how bout the velodrome?)

Now I know not all of us are perfect, and there are plenty of idiots out there...like the carload full of teenagers that drove by us monday in their Evo, back and forth, circling like a shark looking for a street race for about 20 minutes. We just shook our heads in shame and disgust. And please don't go off on us tuner racers causing accidents blah blah...the suv that took himself out on I55 two cars in front of me two weeks ago did it all by himself changing lanes. He swerved, changed his mind, swerved back, lost the rear end, tried to save it badly (get off the gas, not on it dumbass) and ended up in the ditch. Lucky SOB went in straight or he would have rolled it.

So please, PLEASE, if you have a beef with cars and drivers - start your fight with the foundation! Learning to control you vehicle and what it's capable of! (I'm talking out of control danger capabilities, not how high the speedo goes)

(I apologize if there are any run on or poorly constructed sentences in there)

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Permalink Reply by Ali on March 12, 2010 at 8:27pm

I wholeheartedly agree with this and would like to add a few of my points. Driving is a science and an art form just like biking. I personally would love to disable about half the safety features on my car, between the ABS, traction control, stability control, brake boost, and countless other safety features anyone with half a brain can drive and do most of the time.

I personally would hate the idea of a car "braking" for me, there are a number of situations where it is better to just keep your foot off the brake and steer around the obstacle, opposed to wasting the precious cornering grip by braking. Anyone who has been to a half decent performance driving school will be well aware of this. Instead of penalizing drivers in general why not try to improve the driver's ed requirements, or the testing procedures in order to get a license instead of handing them out to anyone who can pass a written test that could be passed by an 8 year old and a driving test that actually test nothing that really matters to driving? Why aren't these kids are being taken out to a skid pad as part of their driver's ed and being thought how to recover from a spin, proper braking, cornering, and handling skills?

And please refrain yourself from jumping onto any new technology so quickly the Volvo mentioned above is a huge heap of problems waiting to happen.

-Ali

GabeW (not the other Gabe) said:

These are the kinds of discussions I would hope you're expecting me to jump into by now :)

I am against legislation that would ban computers from the front seats of cars, or other so called distracting technology while not driving. It's pandering to the lowest common denominator; another case of the reckless few ruining it for the rest of us. Why just last monday night I was sitting in the parking lot of the restaurant that the midwest subaru owners club -chicago city dwellers chapter - chose for it's weekly get together. I was in my friend's forester sti, my wrx was parked next to it. We were waiting for the others to arrive and he was adjusting the settings for the computer he had under the passenger seat - it's large display popped up from under the stock clock location in the center of the upper dash. The primary purpose of installing that computer was to allow him to retune the factory ecu that controls the engine parameters. We actually tune our cars to be cleaner and more efficient than when they leave the factory in japan, set up to run at either sea level or in Denver and other large tolerances that make the car dirtier, but work to a factory assigned "optimum" anywhere and everywhere(there's that lowest common denominator again). We tune to the local gas and conditions making the car more efficient and cleaner(and yes, more powerful and faster). In 5th gear he got a knock accelerating on the highway from very low rpms, so he went into the computer, and adjusted the fuel delivery at that specific point and load.

This is a hobby for us much like cycling and working on bikes is for many of you(and me), or tinkering with computers, or playing team sports, or spinning pottery, or knitting, or brewing beer, or restoring old furniture, or any other creative hands on outlet you can think of to keep yourself from going insane with the day to day.

The Itasca Subaru STI police cars have a saying on the back: "keep it on the track". That's what many of us do and I encourage any of you with a car to take it to an autocross or rallycross regardless of what kind of car it is. It's more challenging that you might think, and more rewarding too. Like one of my old friend's father used to say - "if you don't find motor-sports exciting, you've never been to a race in person." Carbon footprints aside, the human experience at a racetrack is second to none. (say, anyone ever enjoy the atmosphere of a crit or tour? how bout the velodrome?)

Now I know not all of us are perfect, and there are plenty of idiots out there...like the carload full of teenagers that drove by us monday in their Evo, back and forth, circling like a shark looking for a street race for about 20 minutes. We just shook our heads in shame and disgust. And please don't go off on us tuner racers causing accidents blah blah...the suv that took himself out on I55 two cars in front of me two weeks ago did it all by himself changing lanes. He swerved, changed his mind, swerved back, lost the rear end, tried to save it badly (get off the gas, not on it dumbass) and ended up in the ditch. Lucky SOB went in straight or he would have rolled it.

So please, PLEASE, if you have a beef with cars and drivers - start your fight with the foundation! Learning to control you vehicle and what it's capable of! (I'm talking out of control danger capabilities, not how high the speedo goes)

(I apologize if there are any run on or poorly constructed sentences in there)

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