A New Machine

I took a SMITH defensive driver training class last week. Excellent road course. Among other things, they recommend leaving a four-second space cushion behind the car ahead of you. I always thought two seconds (what the DMV suggests), but when I drove up to Fresh Pond last week, I used their recommendations. Safety first! Be safe and aware...take time to prepare! Safety is not a job...it's a way of life! Safety is the light...let it shine! (all these slogans I found in less than 5 minutes here in my workplace).

So I'm in a carpool with my neighbor this morning, and learned she also took that course! What a coincidence! So here she was tailgating traffic in the fast lane on I-5 at 78 mph leaving less than half a second in front of us with a tractor-trailer in the right lane blocking any possible out options while telling me the things she recalled from the course. Unbelievable! Her husband drives about the same. I find it unnerving as a passenger...but what to do? This happens a hundred million times a day in this nation, so they aren't doing anything different than everyone else, and they've been through defensive driving training! What of the other hundred million who haven't?

So I'm thinking of the thousands of dollars of incremental vehicle costs to accommodate SAFETY...anti-lock brakes, side impact air bags, front airbags, supplemental restraint systems, crash-resistant door pillars, child seat tethers, electronic stability control, back up cameras, crumple zones, traction control...we have to be safe! It's too hard to governor a car, or too hard to design better urban layouts, or too hard to modify personal behaviors, so instead, make all cars meet some arbitrary and capricious set of standards, jack up the price, and exclude all 45+ mpg foreign cars because...they don't meet these standards!

Just like adding more freeway lanes inevitably leads to just more congested freeway lanes, the more these safety features become 'standard equipment,' the more drivers will modify their behaviors to defeat their effectiveness. They become more dangerous drivers. Our friend in San Diego bought a Nissan Murano, and she's got a backup camera. She said it took her only about a week and a half to 'lose' her ability to check over her shoulder when backing up. No need to do that anymore! And what a relief! Such a chore! Besides, you risk throwing out something in your neck or back with all that bothersome movement.

I want to be clear, it's behavior I'm addressing, not any particular individual. What's the incremental increase in my insurance rates because I'm pooled in with all these people? What unnecessary risks am I taking by riding a bicycle next to these people? We have a hands-free cell-phone law coming in two weeks -- and on the Hwy 99 overpass last Wednesday, I'm looking down into all that stalled traffic, and one in five drivers are on the phone. Seeing how I'll also be violating that law...I'm hardly holier than thou.

I see the futility in all this. I'm a cog in a giant machine and I'm being rolled up everyday. I observe and comment, but I know the deal...I'm at peace with our insanity.