drive | Diesel is for tractors

The greatest danger on our roads

It’s something we each witness countless times a day on the roads. It isn’t anything to do with the background of the driver, their skill/experience level, age or sex.
I have witnessed Gardai (Police here in Ireland) fall foul to this also, with scary regularity. When you know someone who has been prosecuted for this, only to observe the authorities commit the exact same crime, it’s very difficult to not be highly annoyed.
This danger is not just an issue here in Ireland. Most countries in the world are facing this issue regarding road safety too. So what is it?
Phones, plain and simple.

What started out as the addenda of the yuppy brigade, with briefcase sized batteries, has evolved into something that so many people simply can not go without. I get it, I find it equally difficult to not interact with my phone/cell/mobile, whatever you want to call it. These devices have become so ingrained in our lives, packed with features and availability of apps for almost anything you can think of. A lot of those apps are aimed at motorists, from software that allows you to monitor data from sensors or read faults, to more commonly used things like maps or traffic updates. All this on top of social media that is created to be addictive, plus the basic text and call services of most/all phones.
These devices take so much of our attention. We are almost trained to reach for it when we hear a ping.
I remember a time when a call to someone while on the road required finding a public payphone (often called a phonebox here). You’d have to have coins to make the call or speak with the operator and ask to reverse the charges, provided the person on the other end agreed to pay. Then came phone credit in the form of a card, very similar to a bank card. You would buy these to the value of credit needed and use them in the phones that were compatible. At the time, we felt like this was highly convienient. How things have progressed in a relatively short time.

Back to the danger on the roads.
I’ve seen stickers on the back of cars asking people to “Please drive carefully, baby on board”, with said vehicle being driven by a parent holding a coffee in one hand and a phone in the other, while steering using their wrist, I kid you not. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve had to take evasive action to avoid a head on crash with someone who was looking down at their phone. We have all seen accidents where the driver wasn’t paying attention, most often using a phone.
It can be tough if you are trying to make it somewhere, while under time pressure and then receive a call/text that is urgent. Some will pull over to the side of the road, but most will simply pick up the phone and continue driving, while trying to multitask.
Personally, I’m not great at multitasking. Driving has enough risks attached to warrant not adding more, so I leave the phone in my pocket or put it into a storage compartment, with it set to silent. If I can’t hear a call/text/alert, then I don’t think about it. When I get to my destination or stop along the way, then I’ll check it. Nothing is worth loosing my life over, or worse, being responsible for the death of someone else, especially not the latest shared video of someone’s cat falling over.
Put the phone away, on silent. Be a better driver, focus, enjoy the drive.

Soon driving won’t be

You obviously, like myself, enjoy driving. From the regular spin to the shop or the daily commute to work, to the random drive just for the hell of it. For many its a key factor in their lives, the machine that they use the most. To some of those people, it becomes almost an extension of themselves. From the initial decision to buy a car, to the research, test drives and ultimately purchase, it’s all exciting stuff. When you start to work on the car, topping up the windscreen washer bottle, then changing oil and filter, progressing to suspension changes and performance tuning, it’s all a bonding experience.

Manufacturers are slowly taking away the chance for you to work on the car yourself. Engines hidden behind molded panels, special dealer only tools to remove certain parts etc. But at least we can enjoy the driving part….. but for how long?

Cars are rapidly gaining new tech. Much of this is welcome, but some is removing the driver from the equation. It started with things like automatic gearboxes and oil warning lights. I knew a guy who insisted on driving a rental car, an automatic one, full of a group of friends. He managed to throw everyone out of their seats with violent braking, as he sank his “clutch foot” to the floor, on the brake pedal. Twice. Before leaving the rental car park. Minutes later he asked what the P position was on the gear lever. Presuming he was kidding, I joked it was a “Power mode” for high speed driving. Thankfully I was able to stop him as he went to engage P while doing 70mph. The same guy called me, having broken down on the motorway. “I don’t know what happened, it started making a strange noise, then the power just went”. On arrival at the scene, I was greeted by a large pool of oil under the car and a piston trying to escape through the side of the block. “Did you have any warning lights on the dash?” I asked. “Yes, the oil light was on for a while. A few days maybe”. “When did you last dip it for oil?” – “I don’t know…. is that not something the garage have to do when they service it?”. Yes, really.

Soon came self levelling lights. Then auto wipers, auto lights, parking sensors and reversing cameras. To most they seem like a great thing to have in your car, and fair enough, to many they are. But they don’t stop there. Lane departure warning, blind spot warning, self parking cars, hill start assist, auto braking….. the list goes on.

Why am I so against all this you ask? Well, its all heading toward fully autonomous cars. And it’ll be with us sooner than you think. The idea has been around for decades. What started out as pure sci-fi stuff, is already happening, in many countries around the world. They claim it’s about safety, and to be fair, it mostly is. Many people just shouldn’t be allowed to ride a bicycle, never mind drive a car. They are a potentially lethal machine after all.

But where will that leave us petrolheads? Imagine you want to go to work. You go outside your door and a car is waiting for you at the roadside. It’s not yours, its owned by the manufacturer. Its arrives when you need it and goes back to a storage unit when you don’t. As you approach, the door opens, the seat slides out to meet you and cossets you into the car. A voice asks “do you need to stop by the grocery shop today?” to which you reply “No, just straight to work thank you”. The car moves away, silently and soon joins a convoy of other similar machines on the road. You sit back and stare at the back of the car ahead, remembering what it was like when you had to concentrate and actual drive to work. You realise that if the car broke down now, you wouldn’t have a clue what to do to fix it. Good thing the car itself would organise a replacement to come collect you immediately.

After work, you say to your friend, I remember when I looked forward to taking the long way home. He points out to you that you still can. But whats the point? Nowadays, you just want to get home. The joy of engaging with the car, feeling the road beneath you, sensing the changing grip levels and enjoying the sound of the engine as the revs rise and fall, those days have passed. A distant memory. The government won’t allow people to own a vehicle that doesn’t drive itself as it’s too dangerous. Petrol engines? Long gone. Hearing the musical V12 approach the Cars & Coffee meeting, replaced with the faint hum of the electric motor. La Passione – no more.

When did all this happen? When did cars start to change in a way that no longer was a help to the real drivers out there? A long time ago.

My advice…. buy that sporty car you always dreamed of or the vintage car you want to restore. Enjoy it while you can, as the future may be one where you are just a passenger.