h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"And then when we get an electronic malfunction (all you need to do is see how badly a simple central locking system can fail) all hell will break loose and nobody will go anywhere. We'll all be on the phone to our IT people instead...People should learn to drive and drive properly or not do it at all. It's a priveledge, not a right and things that lighten the driver's load simply make them, in my opinion, more dangerous..." [Br. Robyn Hoode]

Actually we *won't* all be on the phone to our IT people. Talking on the phone while driving is illegal in many places. But I would like to use *some* of what I've outlined in cars. If you're driving, and you get too close to the car in front, wouldn't it be nice if the car could sense it and keep you from crashing? That should make driving safer, not more dangerous...

I disagree... Firstly, if you've all come to a standstill in your non-driver cars, you WILL be on the phone to someone wanting to know why it's 'crashed' literally or figuratively. And nobody wants BSoD on the motorway!

Secondly, when you fit a safety device to a car, pepole start driving to the device, not to the safe limits that the safety device should only be there to protect in an emergency situation.

You can see it with people who drive too close claiming it's ok because they have ABS. Not realising that ABS actually will stop you SLOWER (i.e. over a greater distance) than normal brakes. So long as you dont lock up the normal brakes and skid. ABS protects against skid, it's not some magic stopping device...

So, the nut behind the wheel is still the most dangerous part of the car?

good point, robyn. while cars are in fact safer than they used to be they are not as safe as people tend to believe

plus most people are not as good motorists as they seem to believe

i'm sure we will one day have intelligent cars as described by paul, we already have metro trains with no personel whatsoever

I never even use the cruise control on my car - I have a friend who very nearly killed himself and the driver of another car when his cruise control failed and prevented him breaking - he continued at the same speed into a roundabout and smashed his car into another one - all he could do was try to steer towards the grassy centre of the roundabout - where luckily he stopped. His car was a right off, the police prosecuted him for dangerous driving - eventually the car manufacturers admitted it was a fault caused by the failure of their systems, so he was not found guilty - but he could easily have lost his licence.

lets go back to peddle cars (ie: bugsy malone kids film)good for the environment, only the services have motorised ones

Pedal cars should be encouraged. I *loved* "Bugsy Malone"

but... wasn't he a gangster?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074256/

yep


and he did his own peddling

ah, yes, i remember now!

I still like watching it and could never understand why Jodi Foster never fancied memaybe co's she didn't know I existed

that's one way of looking at it, i guess

I missed out on a lot of good looking film actresses that way

... I've just eaten far too many mint crumbles whilst watching some streaming tv programme.

I liked the "Fat Sam" song in "Bugsy Malone."

I liked the down down down and out one, it's anti negative

I don't remember that one, but I'm sure it was great. The whole movie was a delight.

http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/b/bugsymalone10507.html

I am not looking forward to coming back to Britain, please tell me that Christmas is going ahead without all that dreadful stress, manic shopping and overspending.

sorry, no can do and I still have to live here