2010-02-02 » The problem with cars is people

I dislike cars. Actually, it would probably be more accurate to say that I dislike most personal transportation that is human-controlled but not human-powered. This mostly means I don’t like cars, vans, trucks, taxis, etc. But here I’ll lump them all together as ‘cars’.

I own a car and even drive, but when possible I avoid cars. When I can’t avoid being in a car, I try to avoid driving. If it’s the only viable way to get somewhere, I’ll drive but I’d much prefer taking a train or walking when it’s reasonable to do so. If it were possible I’d gladly give up my car and rely entirely on non-powered transportation. Unfortunately, in the time and place I currently live, not having a car is a difficult option to justify.

The reasons I don’t like cars are manifold but they include (random generalizations):

• cars are loud
• cars are expensive
• gas is expensive
• cars stink up the environment
• cars run on oil which is difficult politically and environmentally to obtain
• people driving cars are dangerous
• people think they’re better at driving than they are
• cars are slow (compared to eg. Shinkansen)
• driving requires concentration (which I’d like to use for other things)

The largest of these problems revolve around people (myself included). If I were the only person on the road and I didn’t need to worry about other cars or the drunk guy stumbling across the street, I might even enjoy driving. I could drive much faster while paying less attention. I’d never get stuck in traffic or at a red light. Unfortunately, in the real world there are lots of other people and vehicles sharing space with cars.

Once again robots could save the day! Imagine even a personal transportation option that looked exactly like your car but travelled much faster and was able to get you somewhere while you read a book. You’d just get in and tell it where you want to go and it’d take you there as fast as possible while you enjoy your novel. People are even working on this, but it seems to me that they’re not expending as much money or effort on that as people are spending on protecting the ability to drive cars.

Even if the technology were perfect though, the bigger problems that need to be overcome before I can stop driving for good are again people problems. The unsolved problems include:

• Getting people to trust computer control.
• Building proper failsafes.
• If a computer-controlled car does crash, who do I sue?!
• Everyone needs to adopt it before it can really work optimally.
• Where would highway patrol get all their revenue without speeding tickets?
• Some people think their “freedom to be in control” is more important than other people’s safety.

So… I guess I’ll need to have a car for a while longer.

UPDATE1: Research shows every hour you drive shortens your life by 20 minutes.
UPDATE2: That doesn’t mean you gain 40 minutes. Driving 60 minutes, you waste 80!