08-06-2010, 10:43 PM
(08-03-2010, 07:32 PM)kandrathe Wrote: I've read in other places that over half of all vehicle accidents involve some level of intoxication. It should be possible for vehicle computers to sense when someone is driving erratically, and unsafely.Of course, the very first cars using such a feature will eventually kill its occupants, even if they weren't intoxicated.
First thing the designer of such a feature must understand, yet won't, is the possibility that the operator is driving erractically in order to avoid the drunken schmuck who is also driving erratically. Of course, the drunk is in an 1989 Escort with torn seats whilst the other is in a brand-new 2015 Magisterial which will override the panicked driver's clearly irrational maneuvers and continue straight along the intended path per GPS calculations and cold computer logic.
Of course, the 2016 model will include the fix. Which won't help the folks who demonstrated the need for such a refinement in the first place.
Political Correctness is the idea that you can foster tolerance in a diverse world through the intolerance of anything that strays from a clinical standard.