Why we Drive.
An important new book.
The title seems so clear and simple, intending to illuminate why some people just like to drive. But much like the book, Zen and the Art of motorcycle Maintenance, it really deals with a much broader and important subject.
On the surface of it, the beginning of the book deals with the factors that govern driving. The skill of mastering the operation of the vehicle for basic transport, and the development of higher level skills that allow the machine to be operated at a higher plane of performance.
The author touches on the idea that there is an interplay between drivers on the road. It can boring, waiting behind slower drivers, or it can become almost a dance of coordinated movement at a four way stop sign controlled intersection.
I have described the harmonious act of driving on Interstate 5, where I modulate my speed to go around slower trucks, and cars, slowing gradually as I anticipate the truckers changing into my lane, and moving to the right lane to allow faster drivers to pass me. This can all be coordinated into a fluidity of uncommunicative cooperation. Take and send cues to other drivers and if it is working properly turns the process into a community of the moment. Strangers actually working together in a common cause.
Kind of hard to believe, isn't it?
The act of driving as an accomplishment.
Is there an actual need for self driving cars? I mean, people have managed to drive themselves around for over a hundred years. Not always without incident. But we have enjoyed a pretty unfettered freedom to cruise the asphalt and concrete tributaries that make up our Nation's highway system. Predominately on our own terms. Yes, there are laws and regulations, but we can get out there and disappear for awhile. Turn up halfway, or even all the way across the country. Or just hideout somewhere where we can't be found or bothered by the responsibilities and duties that we left behind at home. That's been for the good and the occasional bad. But you've had the choice.
There are those out there that say that they hate driving. But is it the actual act of driving or the commute? The commute being the repetitious act of driving from one location to another. Usually from residence to workplace. Generally this is not a pleasant process due to traffic and time crunches. Or maybe just too much time having to be spent in this activity.
Even short periods of inter urban commuting can lead to similar frustrations. Commuting is driving as a chore. Of course there are some people that see any driving as a chore.
The author goes on to describe how competitive automotive racing results in a kind of cooperation that arises spontaneously.
So if humans are so good at cooperation why do we need to have self driving cars?
Well because they're not.
The author raises another darker reason to promote autonomous vehicles.
The drivers are now passengers, and they are a ripe audience for social media consumption. In other words they are free to be targeted by social media marketeers.
The book has a discussion of various types of racing, then discusses photo enforced intersections and speed limit laws.
There is also a discussion of "Google Earth."
Was the book what I expected?
In some ways yes, in others no.
I was kind of expecting a testament to the love of motor travel, something that I value highly. Maybe some day in the future there won't be any freedom to drive wherever and whenever we wish. I sure hope that day never comes. I find it hard to believe that such a widespread highway system could ever be so tightly regulated.
Technology has changed the kind of cars that we currently drive, and there will be even more changes in the future. Even curmudgeons like me will eventually learn to make peace with the adoption of electric vehicles. The important thing is to keep those wheels spinning!
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