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"We believe operating drones after consuming alcohol is as serious as (drink) driving," a Japanese transport ministry official told the AFP news agency. I'm as
by zrobotics 7y ago
"We believe operating drones after consuming alcohol is as serious as (drink) driving," a Japanese transport ministry official told the AFP news agency.
I'm assuming this is due to translation, surely this is hyperbolic and not serious. I don't think this is a bad law, people should be sober when piloting a drone, but how in any way is a drone comparable to the danger posed by a drunk driver?
- tehbeard 7y agoSpinning rotors and likely vector for a bystander impact is from above (i.e. Head)
- zrobotics 7y agoI know Japanese cars tend to be smaller than the monstrosities common in the US, but even a small car will weigh >1000lbs. That's enough kinetic energy that even someone in another car is at risk, whereas anyone in a car is nearly invulnerable to a consumer drone. I definitely don't want to be struck by a drone, but given the choice between a car accident and drone accident, I'll take the drone any day.
- behringer 7y agoWait are we comparing drone on car impacts now?
- zrobotics 7y agoQuite a few drunk driving deaths are car-on-car, so it seemed a reasonable comparison to make. Although I would suspect the majority of drone accidents are drone-on-human, but even in that case car-on-pedestrian is far more lethal.
- nihonde 7y agoA collision between a drone and a windshield is plenty to cause a serious accident.
- Retric 7y agoOutside of military aircraft drone related deaths are extremely rare. Skulls can survive fairly heavy impacts relative to most drones. Randomly falling drones are also unlikely to hit someone outside the most densely packed crowds. So, while drunk droning may be a safety hazard, it’s vastly less risky than drunk driving.
- LiquidSky 7y ago>Randomly falling drones are also unlikely to hit someone outside the most densely packed crowds. Like those found in many Japanese cities?
- Retric 7y agoJapanese drones are already banned in areas with over 4,000 people per km^2.
- ojilles 7y agoAnd it’s already outlawed over cities in Japan.
- hrktb 7y agoI'd see them as a cause of traffic accidents/injuries by distraction. Just as being drunk in public is already a finable offence I think, as is causing disagreements on the public space.
- SilasX 7y agoYes, they're rare because you're not sampling over the set of people operating them while drunk.
- Retric 7y agoThat’s likely to underestimate risks as there does not seem to be any deaths related to drunk drone operators. With how many drones have been sold worldwide, if drones where even vaguely as dangerous as cars per hour we could easily find hundreds of deaths. So, even hypothetically cars are at minimum hundreds of times more dangerous.
- suls 7y agoSame logic as riding a bicycle _under the influence of alcohol_ is against the law in Japan. Edit: clarified
- nerd7473 7y agoNever heard that one...
- LeifCarrotson 7y agoIt's not,that all bikes are disallowed, it's that riding a bicycle while drunk is against the law. And they have pretty stiff fines, comparable to drunk driving tickets: https://jpninfo.com/76265 https://jpninfo.com/76265
- asutekku 7y agoMind giving a source? Me and thousands of other university students in here would like to disagree.
- cultus 7y agoIt's against the law in many places in the US as well, but I've never heard of it enforced. I'm sure most people would rather have drunks on bikes than cars.
- francisofascii 7y agoI suspect the main reason is to ensure the driver of a car is not liable if they hit a drunk cyclist.
- rangibaby 7y agoIt’s illegal but rarely enforced. If you hit a person while biking drunk you will likely be in a world of shit.
- C1sc0cat 7y ago
- hyperpallium 7y agoDrunk drivers don't close down airports.
- StavrosK 7y agoAs someone who owns a few drones, I'm quite afraid of them. The racing ones are much more dangerous, but the pilots also tend to be much more responsible. The rotors can definitely cut flesh, which is why everyone has the "disarm" switch (which completely kills rotor power instantly) in the most easily accessible place on their controller. These, I'm not worried about, because every person I've seen flying one has always done it far away from people, and very very carefully. The automatic drones are the ones I'm afraid of most, due to the posts I've seen on groups I'm a member of. They take no skill to fly, so people fly them without understanding. I've seen people disable the sensors and flying them a few centimeters from people's faces, where a slight gust of wind will mean permanent disfigurement. I've seen people fly them close to trees, next to wires over people, and a thousand other dangerous situations. Whenever I see that a law forbids me from flying and taking photos, I initially curse the lawmakers and then realize that the same law protects me from the thousands of irresponsible drone owners, and I feel a bit better.
- yellowapple 7y agoOn that note, I wonder how long it'll be before we have real-life Half-Life-2-style Manhacks?
- lowdose 7y agoA month lead time ready made-to-order. https://www.bostondynamics.com/ https://www.bostondynamics.com/
- Chris_Chambers 7y agoWhy is there always some racist on HN ready to trash-talk things that Japanese people say or do?
- Gpetrium 7y agoMost people that think about the effects of drink-n-driving tend to link it to deaths. In reality, a majority of the cost is tied to public/private property damage. In that case, it is valid to argue that a drunk drone pilot can incur serious damage to electrical grids, increased odds of moving the drone to heights associated with airplanes/helicopters among many other issues.
- esotericn 7y agoI think you'd be surprised, as I was, if you looked at the statistics on how dangerous driving under the influence is. At 0.10% the accident rate is approximately 5x baseline.