protectionist
Diamond Member
- Oct 20, 2013
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If the video shown on the TV news is correct, then a dashboard touchscreen (combined with driver slack) just got a pedestrian killed. There's a few factors involved. The pedestrian was walking (slowly) with a bicycle, and she wasn't crossing in the crosswalk. Looking at the video though, it's apparent that the driver's eyes (of a self-driving uber with no passengers) ) were off the road, looking at the touchscreen, for an astonishing amount of time.
It's only the impact of the car hitting the pedestrian that took her eyes suddenly away from the touchscreen, with very shocked look on her face. Since the video began with the driver already looking at the touchscreen, we can't determine how long her eyes were off the road. So the actual time was even worse than the viewed time.
With tragic events like this + scores of cases of cars busting into 7-11s and peoples' living rooms (like I've never seen before), it's looking like we're living in a new and dangerous time. That is, one in which distractions from dashboard touchscreens and smart phones are causing cars to crash.
Before I could even get this posted, another bicylist was hit and killed by a car. Fox 13 News said it was by a "distracted driver". Dashboard screen ? Smart phone ? Take your pick.
How a Self-Driving Uber Killed a Pedestrian in Arizona
It's only the impact of the car hitting the pedestrian that took her eyes suddenly away from the touchscreen, with very shocked look on her face. Since the video began with the driver already looking at the touchscreen, we can't determine how long her eyes were off the road. So the actual time was even worse than the viewed time.
With tragic events like this + scores of cases of cars busting into 7-11s and peoples' living rooms (like I've never seen before), it's looking like we're living in a new and dangerous time. That is, one in which distractions from dashboard touchscreens and smart phones are causing cars to crash.
Before I could even get this posted, another bicylist was hit and killed by a car. Fox 13 News said it was by a "distracted driver". Dashboard screen ? Smart phone ? Take your pick.
How a Self-Driving Uber Killed a Pedestrian in Arizona
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