Non-political things that make you say...WTF?!?! (Welcome To Florida!) **NOT CV RELATED** NO TALKY!

There has been a shortage of truck drivers since before the apocalypse. This leads to those that are driving driver for long hours. Combine that with the fact that everyone who misses their stop decides it will be fine to pull in front of a truck that weighs 10x what they do and requires much larger distances to stop, and that should take the wtf out of this.

Then look at Colorado who just sentenced a trucker to 110 years for his brakes failing.

 

Didnt that guy also fail to take at least one runaway ramp after he noticed the failure?

 

Yes, but tha'ts what happens. When you have massive shortages, you take what ever help you can. Offer good pay, good benefits, minimal training, to get drivers on the road and reduce the shortage as quickly as possible. You get some 20 year old kid, who is panicking because his 40,000lb vehicle is going 85mph down a hill.

 

It happens, and it happened. But any idiot driving a truck who realizes they can't stop should know what that big yellow sign with flashing lights and a gravel road going up a steep hill means.
A guy here in OR a few years back cooked his brakes going down a hill and jumped out while the truck was still going at speed. He fell short and rolled infront of the trailer tires. After running him over, the truck continued down the road and drove itself up a hillside and stopped in the mud.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I agree with the amount of time in the sentence. I am saying I agree with whom the guilt belongs. The sentence is based off of state mandatory sentences which is up to law makers, not jurists to change.

 

Take the wtf out? Sensors with automatic brakes aren't really a WTF. What am I missing?

 

True, but the company who owns the truck and is responsible for maintenance should also be at least partially to blame. I think that was kind of the point of that big trucker strike for Colorado.

Not sure, but I was thinking if that white car had also hit the brakes while the truck was trying to stop, it still would have hit them. While the system is good, it's not foolproof

 

I was talking to a guy that drives one of those trucks, he hates it. It locked up the brakes on the interstate because there was a hard shadow across the road from an overpass. The system definitely still needs work.

 

The driver was offered a plea deal, he decided to take his chances in court and lost big time.

 

My 18 Taco forward collision deal used to freak out at shadows and at the signs on hard turns. Complete Godsend when Toyota did a software update on those atrocious things. Now, with it on the lowest setting it won't even beep when I do bump into things lol

 

No technology will ever replace an attendant driver.

 

Its just a matter of time.

 

And no machine will ever take a human's job... You're right, no machine will replace a competent driver, but you're wrong because this tech is not being developed to replace competent drivers, it's being developed because there is a LACK of attendant drivers. Take for example distracted driving being the number 1 cause of vehicle accidents resulting in deaths. Drunk driving #2.

Self driving cars will never be too busy with texts to watch the road. They will never have had 1 too many. They will perform virtually the same time after time. They're not perfect, but many of them are close to if not better than their human counter parts already.

 

Whether they succeed or not will depend on how unperfect they are. All eyes are on Tesla for now and it's not looking good. Personally I would never trust my life to an electronic brain. If I'm gonna die in a stupid way I'd rather it be my own stupid way rather than a soulless machines.

 

Don't know why this popped into my mind...

 

And what makes you say Tesla is not looking good? Because it's not perfect from the start and there are a handful of stories where it failed? Last I saw there was such a reduction in accidents when driving a Tesla that insurance companies were giving discounted rates.

As far as never trusting your life to an electronic brain, maybe you should consider selling your tacoma then. They are fly by wire. In fact, a police officer died a few miles from me in in a toyota. It led to a massive tsb campaign where toyota cut the bottom half of throttle pedals off, and installed an update to the electronic brain that would disengage the throttle if both the throttle and brake pedal are pushed. Is your's working? Are you trusting your life to it?

 

great, now I have to go watch that again...

 

I plan on watching it tonight when I run my generator, I forgot to plug my laptop in and the battery is too low to get through the whole movie at the moment.
As much as I talk about the BS of electric cars and self driving cars, I am actually all for the development of them. I see lots of potential in both. What I hate is the fact that certain people are trying to force them onto the public before they are developed to be reliable and economic. And the fact that my taxes increase every year in order to give breaks to people who buy them and to fund charging stations. There is one charging station in a town close to me that the city paid for and the tax payers pay the electric on. It is used by one vehicle in the town, a Tesla with "100% electric" painted on the sides with those multi color window markers.

Edited because I seem to have forgotten how to spell some words.

 

I wonder what the percentage is of drivers who are driving under the influence, and driving distracted?

I think that percentage is way lower than what anyone thinks. Given the number of vehicles on the road and the amount of incidents caused by drunk and distracted drivers.

Those numbers both probably go up at closing time, after hours, the weekend, Holidays and when people are more likely to indulge. With the exception of Holidays when there are more vehicles on the road and people under the influence behind the wheel.

The rest of the time weekends, afterhours, and what not. There are less vehicles on the road. With a greater percentage of those drivers being under the influence and driving distracted. These two activities go hand and hand.

During the day, Monday thru Friday. There are many more vehicles on the road, with a greater likelihood of people firing off texts behind the wheel as the drive and conduct daily business behind the wheel.

Although driving distracted is driving distracted, I think people who drive distracted during the day are still more attentive than the distracted drivers who are driving at night.

Do people pay more attention to the text they send to their boss during business hours, or do people pay more attention to the text they are sending to their booty call when they are out during the evening hours?