Re: Google Robot Cars - Automation Gone Too Far?

[Kyle Gordon <kyle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 11/10/10 12:15, Nigel Giddings wrote:
> Mark,
>
>
>
> I was watching a re-run of one of the James May programs last night
where=
he
> looked at various forms of transport including a =91personal
helicopter=
=92 and
> the =91Jet Pack=92=85 He also commented that the car, if invented
today, =
would not
> be allowed on our roads because of the Health & Safety concerns.
This cou=
ld
> be justified just by the number of deaths associated with it=85
>
>=20=20=20

This gets on my tits, and all the news outlets do it. They roll out
$bignum to prove how dangerous something is. What they fail to
demonstrate is the $utterlymassivenum of people that use it every day.

As a ratio of deaths per user, the car is far safer than a lot of drugs,
legal or not.

That's not to say H&S still won't ban it, but that's because they're a
bunch of self-important twats trying to keep themselves in a job.

>
> It is only luck that we get to drive our inefficient, over (sometimes
und=
er)
> engineered transport devices on the roads today. I can see the
opportunit=
ies
> for me to drive my toys dwindling in the future as the public roads
becom=
e
> reserved for transport systems that are more efficient and therefore
less
> =91fun=92.
>
>
>=20=20=20
Yup, one day motorways and the likes will be reserved for automated cars
only. Hopefully I'll be dead by then though.
> There is a primitive urge, which some hide less well than others, to
have=
a
> means of transport that out performs our rivals=85
>
>
>
> I=92m with you, I want to be able to, occasionally, drive my 2 door,
13 M=
PG,
> 350+ HP, car that has no ABS, heck it doesn=92t even have disc breaks,
ev=
en if
> it is as efficient as burning =A35 notes to keep warm=85 Does that
make m=
e sound
> like a =91Jeremy=92 sympathiser?
>
>
>=20=20=20
We all have our guilty pleasures that we're all entitled to. We just
have to make sure our rights are not eroded by minority pressure groups
that historically bend government rule to their own little demands. We
need good spokespersons, and this is where the AA and other motoring
groups come into play. Clarkson, sadly, is the Bob Crow of the car world.

Kyle


--=20
Kyle Gordon - 2M1DIQ
Web: http://lodge.glasgownet.com
Jabber/Email/SIP: kyle@xxxxxxx




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