4 ms·

On the whole I feel modern cars with all the modern comforts and conveniences are ultimately the cause of accidents. People feel too complacent in operating wha

On the whole I feel modern cars with all the modern comforts and conveniences are ultimately the cause of accidents. People feel too complacent in operating what's effectively a two-ton missile. (Or as Daria's dad once put it, "you're just a radio with doors!") In my little race car, I have no radio, no air conditioner, no carpets, roll bars, bucket seats and harnesses. You're well aware you're operating machinery, and like driving a telihandler or some other machine, you don't let yourself get distracted. Phone goes in the pocket and you're absorbed with the machine you're operating. Yet in my daily driver I often find myself fiddling with spotify, or running through contact lists for phone calls via the head unit, playing with hvac settings, etc. While I don't know if consumers would accept the removal of comforts for safety sake, I feel that I'm a safer driver in my bare-bones vehicle with less overall distractions and conveniences. Ultimately like with everything, I guess it comes down to more education being required.

nik12795 5y ago
That's a good point. And I do agree with you that, although it may be safer with less distractions, the average consumer would not be willing to give up those comforts. How do you feel about self driving cars?
quickthrower2 5y ago
If it’s 40c outside, heatstroke might be a bit distracting, so I’ll keep my air conditioner thanks
- carlmr 5y ago
  Exactly, when my AC broke on my last car I found the heat quite distracting.
- Rumudiez 5y ago
  It was 46C here yesterday and I took my car without A/C out for an errand. The day before I enjoyed a motorcycle ride in similar weather. It can be done, but I don’t think the hvac is nearly as distracting as fiddling with a phone or even the radio since it’s more of a set-and-forget control.
makeitdouble 5y ago
Good for you ! Now, a lot of people would be sleeping at the wheel with no radio. No AC during winter would mean driving with heavy coats on, so I’m not sure it would be safer. During summer it means no driving at all (which could be great in itself, but it’s a harder sale than you make it look) My point is, someone’s distraction is likely someone else’s saving feature.
- 5e92cb50239222b 5y ago
  This seems to me no more than a bunch of justifications. I live in a region with -40°C winters and +40°C summers (that's the extremes, but we see them every year, and the averages are not far off). Most people drive without air conditioning in summer and with just enough heating in winter to make the air tolerable in several layers of heavy clothing. It's fine.
  - makeitdouble 5y ago
    We all have our anecdotes, so to try get a bit of distance on how well people deal with heat: > Results show a significant positive association between fatal traffic crashes and heat waves with a 3.4% (95% CI: 0.9, 5.9%) increase in fatal traffic crashes on heat wave days versus non-heat wave days. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457518303257 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00014... Doesn’t look fine to me.
    - slingnow 5y ago
      Sounds like a lot of people are fiddling with their AC settings and causing accidents.
- bshimmin 5y ago
  If the only thing keeping you awake at the wheel is having the radio on, rather than driving you should be having a break (for some people, a coffee and a micro-nap will work wonders).
  - 5y ago
mulmen 5y ago
While I share your perception the numbers are clear. Traffic fatalities continue to decline as cars get safer. Correlation does not imply causation of course but I find it hard to believe these trends are in spite of modern safety features. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_...
- onion2k 5y ago
  The number of fatalities is a function of how safe the car is in an accident as well as how many accidents there are. If cars could be made perfectly safe the number of fatalities would be zero. That wouldn't mean distracted people wouldn't crash any more. The number to look at is total accidents per mile rather than just fatal ones. Unfortunately that still won't really give you an accurate picture because there are far more variables than just the driver's level of attention.
  - badRNG 5y ago
    Well, I have to imagine features like auto emergency braking, lane departure warning, blind spot detection, and many more have saved countless lives AND prevented many accidents. I know they've saved me personally from an accident.
    - clairity 5y ago
      no, those things simply lower the skill floor of driving as well as reduces attention/focus, which is the opposite of safety. all things being equal, less attention causes accidents and makes them more severe, and greater skill prevents accidents and lessens severity. some of those "safety" features can cause accidents because they counteract rather than complement the measures of a skilled driver.
      - mulmen 5y ago
        Safety features reduce cognitive load and allow reallocation of limited attention span. Take the example of (airline) autopilots. Or in the case of a car lane keeping and radar cruise control. The driver can reallocate the cognitive energy used for precise steering input and throttle control to situational awareness, further improving safety. These features improve safety, even (especially!) in the hands of competent drivers.

nik12795 5y ago

That's a good point. And I do agree with you that, although it may be safer with less distractions, the average consumer would not be willing to give up those comforts. How do you feel about self driving cars?

quickthrower2 5y ago

If it’s 40c outside, heatstroke might be a bit distracting, so I’ll keep my air conditioner thanks

carlmr 5y ago
Exactly, when my AC broke on my last car I found the heat quite distracting.
Rumudiez 5y ago
It was 46C here yesterday and I took my car without A/C out for an errand. The day before I enjoyed a motorcycle ride in similar weather. It can be done, but I don’t think the hvac is nearly as distracting as fiddling with a phone or even the radio since it’s more of a set-and-forget control.

makeitdouble 5y ago

Good for you ! Now, a lot of people would be sleeping at the wheel with no radio. No AC during winter would mean driving with heavy coats on, so I’m not sure it would be safer. During summer it means no driving at all (which could be great in itself, but it’s a harder sale than you make it look) My point is, someone’s distraction is likely someone else’s saving feature.

5e92cb50239222b 5y ago
This seems to me no more than a bunch of justifications. I live in a region with -40°C winters and +40°C summers (that's the extremes, but we see them every year, and the averages are not far off). Most people drive without air conditioning in summer and with just enough heating in winter to make the air tolerable in several layers of heavy clothing. It's fine.
- makeitdouble 5y ago
  We all have our anecdotes, so to try get a bit of distance on how well people deal with heat: > Results show a significant positive association between fatal traffic crashes and heat waves with a 3.4% (95% CI: 0.9, 5.9%) increase in fatal traffic crashes on heat wave days versus non-heat wave days. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457518303257 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00014... Doesn’t look fine to me.
  - slingnow 5y ago
    Sounds like a lot of people are fiddling with their AC settings and causing accidents.
bshimmin 5y ago
If the only thing keeping you awake at the wheel is having the radio on, rather than driving you should be having a break (for some people, a coffee and a micro-nap will work wonders).
- 5y ago

mulmen 5y ago

While I share your perception the numbers are clear. Traffic fatalities continue to decline as cars get safer. Correlation does not imply causation of course but I find it hard to believe these trends are in spite of modern safety features. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_...

onion2k 5y ago
The number of fatalities is a function of how safe the car is in an accident as well as how many accidents there are. If cars could be made perfectly safe the number of fatalities would be zero. That wouldn't mean distracted people wouldn't crash any more. The number to look at is total accidents per mile rather than just fatal ones. Unfortunately that still won't really give you an accurate picture because there are far more variables than just the driver's level of attention.
- badRNG 5y ago
  Well, I have to imagine features like auto emergency braking, lane departure warning, blind spot detection, and many more have saved countless lives AND prevented many accidents. I know they've saved me personally from an accident.
  - clairity 5y ago
    no, those things simply lower the skill floor of driving as well as reduces attention/focus, which is the opposite of safety. all things being equal, less attention causes accidents and makes them more severe, and greater skill prevents accidents and lessens severity. some of those "safety" features can cause accidents because they counteract rather than complement the measures of a skilled driver.
    - mulmen 5y ago
      Safety features reduce cognitive load and allow reallocation of limited attention span. Take the example of (airline) autopilots. Or in the case of a car lane keeping and radar cruise control. The driver can reallocate the cognitive energy used for precise steering input and throttle control to situational awareness, further improving safety. These features improve safety, even (especially!) in the hands of competent drivers.