Safe and be safe

I live in a small town but even our town has a Tesla that I see periodically. I think it’s the same one but I never look at the license plate but rather the front and then a peek inside to see the large screen. I remember my wife commenting once that you could watch a movie on it just like you would on a computer screen or a tablet.

Photo by Malte Helmhold on Unsplash

Well, it turns out that you can. But it doesn’t always work out well.

Tesla on autopilot crashes into state trooper’s cruiser as allegedly driver watches movie

I’ve watched the movie embedded in this article a couple of times and shudder each time.

Touchscreens are pretty common things in cars now. My Ford Fusion has one and I use it mostly to show a map when I’m driving somewhere. Even when I know exactly where I’m going, I flip the map on just because I can and darn it, I paid for it.

You can tap the screen if needed but there’s a voice control button on the steering wheel that lets me give it instructions for what I want and it mostly works. It will lay out a route on the map and will speak turn by turn directions to me. It’s one of the greatest things that I’ve ever had as an option on a car and I can’t imagine life without it.

Even so, there are some things that it refuses to do when the car is moving. I understand the logic and I’m glad that the designers at Ford have my safety in mind. I don’t mind sitting in the driveway and configuring things to get them the way I want.

I don’t always agree with the directions that it gives because I do know about country roads and I’m not afraid to use them.

My screen will not play movies but rather opts for the traditional AM/FM/Satellite radio and options for other media to play. I’m good with that and I really don’t want anything more. I certainly don’t want to watch a movie while I’m driving. I know that some minivans have the feature of playing a movie to passengers in the middle or back seats and, as a father, I can understand that and I don’t have a problem with that.

As a driver though, I want to keep my distractions to a minimum. I’ll sing along to the radio (badly) but I keep my eyes on the business at hand. My driving instructor way back in Grade 10 or 11 emphasized this and also glancing off to the horizon and back periodically. Those lessons have stuck with me.

But, as indicated in the video, it’s more than the driver that needs to be aware of things. As you drive along the road, there are cars in front of you and behind you and oncoming. As a defensive driver, I’ve always kept my eyes on them in case they do strange things. I never thought that I’d need to be aware of self-driving cars and/or drivers watching a movie while they’re in command of a vehicle.

As also indicated in the article, there are charges that will be laid for being distracted and that’s a good thing. But, it’s not a good thing if you end up in an accident and are hurt.

I hope that the automotive and governing bodies are paying attention to this and I’m sure many other stories. We rely on them to provide us with a safe environment for transportation.