http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060315/...n_magic_bumper

Seems like a nice substitute for paying attention while you drive!

 

Wow talk about big brother trying to run your life. Can't wait to see what happens when one of these things goes wrong and lifts off the gas just as your trying to merge.

 

Interesting.

 

Stuff like this just seems to encourage bad driving. Like someone is going to use it to rationalize that it is ok to talk on the phone, eat a meal, and put make up on while driving because they have their "magic bumper" in place. I mean honestly if it is coming to the point where cars need all these little doo-hickies to keep us from crashing into each other, then we really need stricter liscensing.

 

How many airbags spontaneously deploy? Have you ever heard of an ABS going bad and slamming on the brakes on some highway causing a 39 car pile-up?

I say, bring on all the safety features we can dream up. Between the Republican/libertarian urge to make everything a state's rights issue and minimizing government intrusion and the Democrat/liberal urge to make everything a civil rights issue, I see no political means of getting all 50 states to increase licensing standards.

 

considering the small roads and sudden stops on the expressways, etc. in
some countries, i think that's a valuable safety feature to have....if you can
disable it when you want to.

i know when im coming home from long biz trips where i've had less
than 4hours sleep for consecutive days, or coming home from a long
13hour international flight i would want such feature on my car if
available. although I am paying attention to the road, i am tired and
my response may not be as quick as usual.

 

I think what Kenchan is saying is what the intended purpose is, but I think what Risu said is what the broader application of this technology will be! And to expand on what Weegas said, what if you are approaching a car in front of you with the intent to pass when you get close enough?

 

While I can see the pros and the cons of this gadget, I think I would have a problem with it when driving at close quarters is unavoidable (rush hour traffic, on the turnpike, etc.)....I hope they include an option for which the driver can disable it as needed, like the option some vehicles have for turning off the passenger side airbag.... Mick

 

there should be a 3second follow mode for those that cry about
chipped paint and cracked winshields!

 

I agree with, Risu. We need to have better drivers on the roads. Not more things to take away the responsibilities of the driver.

I say if a person is the cause of a wreck. For a minimum of 1 year all safety features, including airbags, should be disabled on their car. Make them become responsible.

 

sure, but then you get wacked from the side from a drunk driver in a
SUV going 50mph and have no airbag, nothing. good luck to you,
your family, and your friends. :impatient and, say sorry to the crew that
needs to clean up the bloody mess.

the safety features are not all about saving the driver from his/her own
mistakes, but from others.

 

Yet another reason to not be a bad driver and run the chance of loosing the safety devices.

 

42,800 traffic fatalities in 2004. Yet, the fatality rate was 1.46 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, the lowest rate recorded. The fatality rate in 1966 was 5.50.

I doubt the decline in the fatality rate was due to improved driving.

 

I'm all for safety and visibilty. I cringe to thing that people are against such advances in technology that helps protect people. Why not give football players back the leather helmets they used to wear? Heck, one step further, make is a foul to even wear a helmet of any type.

Back to cars...How about we remove the airbags from your MINI, how about the antilock brakes, how about the electrical disconnect circuit, how about the door beams, how about the mirror, or how about removing the windscreen, how about designing your MINI with rigid metal beams instead of your crumple zones.

Safety is just that, safety.

 

I agree that safety features are generally good things. But when safety features begin to stop helping us do something (ABS helps us stop the car better when we apply the brakes) and begin to just do it for us, we begin to become less of a driver and more of a passenger. Just my feelings.

 

Take down your rear view mirror, you can always turn your head around and look behind you. Take off your sideview mirrors, you can look side to side. Remove your ABS, you can always pump the brake pedal like Mario Andretti. Remove your bumpers because you can always turn and avoid the object. Remove your windscreen, because you can duck when that piece of road debris comes flying at ya. Replace your electric starter with a hand crank. Replace your electric windows with crank types. Need I go on?

Safety hasn't made us lazy, it's made us safer and more productive to look at and worry about more important things.

 

The way I read it, the Nissan throttle pushes against the driver's foot as an alerting mechanism, it doesn't reduce the engine speed itself. Nor does it initiate braking until you lift the throttle. If you want to keep your foot buried until you feel the need to stop, you can. This system just reduces the reaction time and eliminates the time it takes for your foot to move from accelerator to brake. That doesn't sound too obtrusive to me. Anyone been surprised by a vehicle in front of you without brake lights? Or had a car that you were following at the proper distance suddenly dodge to the other lane revealing a car directly in front of you almost stopped to make a turn?

We all think that we're excellent drivers with superior reflexes, but like any other population distribution, the vast majority of us sound like we're auditioning for Rainman while claiming our motoring excellence. Besides, even if you are in the elite 2%, what about the person on the opposite end of the bell curve behind you?

Actually, the same 'less of a driver, more of a passenger' argument can be applied to ABS since it removes the skill associated with modulating the brake pedal. In fact, if I remember correctly, the very same argument was made by enthusiasts back in the '80s.

 

yeh, if we were all responsible and good drivers, we would not need any
safety device...oh wait, we need to teach deer, elks and horses and cattles
and even humans not to j-walk our 55mph hwy's.

dang it, nissan is so ahead of us. :impatient next, they'll start telling me my
shoes don't match the colors of my car so can't enter the car...

or your gf's too ugly and the car won't unlock...

 

Here is the essence of our discussion (note I did not say argument, because I will not argue about this, as I can see valid points both ways):

"Skeptics may see the technology as obtrusive, perhaps even risky, given that some drivers may prefer to rely on their own reflexes.

But Nissan says the magic bumper is helpful because research has shown that more than half of traffic accidents are caused by inattention, drowsiness and carelessness, rather than error in judgment and or illegalities such as speeding and drunken driving."

So to paraphrase Nissan, this technology is needed because people are operating vehicles negligently, carelessly or when they are unable to be a vigilant driver (too tired = shouldn't be driving). Now these same negligent, careless, sleepy people can drive their vehicles and justify that they can do so thanks to their "magic bumper".

I see at least two valid points here:

1. These people were going to drive with or without the "magic bumper", and if I'm the guy in front of them I'd be thankful they had it.

2. But if these careless, tired, people can drive safer now due to this technology, how about the guy who has had a few too many but figures the "magic bumper" will save his bacon if he screws up?

I guess the bottom line is, we are along for the ride with the dumbing down of everything so that the careless, tired, negligent folks of the world don't kill us or themselves.

 

Yep, same goes for pretty much everything.

 

I disagree. We need as many technological "magic bumpers" as possible precisely because there is no dumbing down!!! People have always been this careless, callous, inattentive, negligent and, overall, stupid.

And always will be.

Don't believe me? Read some Swift, Voltaire, Plato... the Old Testament! This is as good as it gets and there is no such thing as The Good Ol' Days.

It's a much more optimistic and tolerant viewpoint.

 

I agree that there always have and always will be the "dumb" ones of any society. But at what point do you draw the line at man vs. machine? Should we get to the point where we don't drive, but rather are just passengers in a vehicle completely controlled by machine?

Maybe I'm too much of a control freak, but I don't think I'd be comfortable driving in a vehicle that could override my instinctive decisions as a human being.

Anytime a machine tells me that my judgement is wrong... bad things are bound to happen. Unless the machine is as aware of the environment as I am, I'd never want it to control me.

Humans should always control machines... not the other way around.

 

what does your wife say?

 

Nothing until he gives her permission to speak! I kid, I kid!!