When I turn 80 I will only get a one year license and have to pass a medical each year to get it.
Okay that's the ticket to keep a license when your elderly. I would like regulations to be more stringent and have a driver's road test. In fact, I think drivers of all ages should have a road test.
So I can see down the road that someday I may lose my driving privileges.
But wait a minute! Technology may be riding to my rescue.
The technology is here to have cars move in traffic without a human driver. They've been tested.
When computer technology can successfully be applied to drive cars, the blind will be able to drive their own cars. We know that GPS is highly accurate. The GPS could easily be voice activated and controlled. Now GPS can give you voice instructions.Cars nowadays are really just one big sensor. What's the problem with a few more sensors which will steer the car in the right direction, read and obey all traffic signs? These cars would stay in the right lanes and sense all objects around them. These cars could even be programmed not to go over the speed limit. Drunks could get home as they wouldn't be driving the car.
.. and little old guys could still drive their cars long after they've lost their licenses. So once I lose my license the computer can take over for me and take me from place to place. Hey, I could even go on a long road trip. Come to think about it , they should include a sensor that indicates that the driver is still living!
In five years, it should be already in place, so you're all set, Red. Me, too! I think it's a great idea but yeah, maybe the car should be able to take your pulse as well. :-)
ReplyDeleteThings like this seem to come very rapidly.
DeleteLove your last line!
ReplyDeleteWe don't monitor older drivers nearly that closely in the States.
It's only a very cursory check up here.
DeleteLove the last sentence.
ReplyDeletejust think, a car could be going around a circuit with just a body!
DeleteWould you really ride in a car without using your hands? It seems very scary to me. Well I have no drivers license so I can always go with public transport. But in your country with long distances you need a car and I am glad you can drive for some more years.
ReplyDeleteAirplanes have used automatic pilots for years. When you fly most of the flight is on automatic pilot.
DeleteFirst I have a question - is that ?red rust" on your car or mud? If so, you wouldn't even get that car licensed here in New Brunswick. If it is not, you are OK. Its funny, they test old people with perfect driving years and still let those that abuse the rules of the road out on the road every day? It is different if you have a medical condition and I guess that is acceptable and I understand that, but does this apply to healthy people too. There are older drivers in our neighbourhood and they have not had medicals?? and they are well past 75? and they are very healthy? and they drive between Toronto and Newfoundland every summer? They have never had medicals.
ReplyDeleteThat's genuine "Red" rust. Each province have their own regulations when it comes to licensing of seniors.I agree that more attention should be paid to other drivers , particularly those who are problem drivers.
DeleteHahaha! I love that last line. So funny. I watched a TV program once about these types of cars. Very fascinating. Eventually we'll all be chauffeured around.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably coming sooner than we think.
DeleteWhat a great idea, Red! As I read, I thought about how much my life would change without the ability to drive, so I hope those scientists get a move on!
ReplyDeleteSeniors lose a lot when they cannot drive anymore. The technology is here and has been road tested.
DeleteI'm glad to see you still in the seat. A neighbor can only drive while it is still light, and only in town at 93. She does it very little, but is fun to see her head barely over the steering wheel she is so small. I drive when I have nothing to do some times.
ReplyDeleteIt would be very limiting to lose driving privileges.
Deleteyou're so cute. those driverless cars makes me cringe!
ReplyDeleteYou fly on automatic pilot for most of your flight. What's the big deal?
DeleteHi Red - I hear you on this post! Speaking of sensors ... my current vehicle has a little back-up camera and some kind of sensors that beep when you get too close to something as you back up. I have found this to be an excellent convenience and wish they would put those sensors at the front of the car as well. I don't know that they would need to be turned on all the time, but they would be great when parking in tight spaces.
ReplyDeleteRed, later today, after seeing your post, I saw a most interesting article on the web. I don't know if I can share a link on here or not, so, if you will go to Google News and enter this for search "World's First Autonomous Truck Goes Into Operation" you should find the article. It's about an 18 wheeler that can run all by itself. Can you imagine one of these things coming down the road at you with no driver in the cab? :-)
DeleteMy CRV has lots of sensors but not those. The Volvo has sensors that turn the lights on.I will like at this site where the semi is computer controlled.
DeleteGood news for us all, especially those of us who love to travel.
ReplyDeleteYes, on a long trip you could have a snooze!
DeleteIf I'm looking at it right, that's a Nova. My parents had one.
ReplyDeleteI'm wary of driverless cars- for the simple reason that so many things can go wrong with computers that I'd have the same concerns about being in a car doing eighty clicks an hour and suddenly have it crash, both computer-wise and literally!
It's a 78 Impala that I bought new and sold in Feb. 2014. I'm sure all this would have back up. How about trying to sue a computer for causing an accident.
DeleteOur daughter has a car than can park itself and it has sensors on all sides..
ReplyDeleteWe just have to be breathing and pass the eye test every four years here in the States. I think there should be a drivers test too...but what do I know.
Now I didn't know about these park yourself cars. Out test isn't much more than yours. We can easily pick out a poor driver from a distance.
DeleteIf there were a driver's test after a "certain age" in the States, half of Florida would be walking!
ReplyDeleteNeither do they in Canada.
ReplyDeleteThe road test should be #1 priority.
That is the one for sure.
I agree with what you said red.
How nut that the new technology. No driver. Really?
Airplanes have had automatic pilots for years. Even the small planes have automatic pilots.
DeleteI had to chuckle at Cynthia's comment.
ReplyDeleteHalf of the states would be walking!
I'd be freaked out driving a car that I wasn't really driving!
Cheri
You'd get used to it. Most of the flight you take is on auto pilot.
DeleteI may also need that automatic driver before long.
ReplyDeleteYou have Mrs C !
DeleteYou know...I betcha that is going to be our future, and it wouldn't bother me a bit! I would love to be chauffeured everywhere..not to mention all the lives that could be saved.
ReplyDeleteBring it on, I say. If they had them now I wouldn't have suffered the indignity of being told I am too old to rent a car in Ireland when I go to visit in August. Too old at 70!! Wish I hadn't been reminded of it, I'm getting annoyed all over again.
ReplyDeleteThat last line made me smile. I saw a piece about computer driven vehicles tonight. It was a huge truck. I'd be a little nervous about having a car but they say we are about two years away, if I got that information right.
ReplyDeleteThat would be so cool riding on a car run by technology :) I think there'll be no more traffic violators if censor works well.
ReplyDeleteYou are right everyone on the riad should be checked not only the seniors. Most especially the young & reckless, temper should be constantly checked hehe
I am not sure about being in a car driving itself. Haven’t you been in a car and someone else is driving and you try to use the brakes? I think it would be nerve racking not to be in charge and place your hands on the wheel.
ReplyDeleteI really want a car that will drive itself. That's right up my speed. My uncle is driving and he's 93!
ReplyDeleteThere are future technologies that will amaze us.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother talked about living in the woods with Native Indians about!
Where we should do better is to test for dementia. A 10-min. pencil & paper test would suffice. We have some horrible drivers around here...