While there have been many developments and advancements made in the realm of vehicle technology over the years to make driving or riding a car as safe as possible, this does not detract the driver from his or her responsibility to give 100% concentration while behind the wheel - otherwise a slight distraction, or simply taking things for granted, could result in an accident that might end up with a bruised ego (best case scenario), a serious injury, or even death. According to the Michigan State Police Department, the worst happened when a man rolled his car on the ramp from the Lodge to I-75, and initial investigations show that the reason behind this accident was the fact that the driver was viewing pornography rather than concentrating on driving.
This particular accident happened on early Sunday morning after 3.30am, and Michigan State Police troopers informed that there had been an accident at the ramp from the Lodge to southbound I-75 which involved only a single car. Now, one would normally pinpoint that to sleepiness, drunk driving or perhaps a vehicle malfunction, but in reality, preliminary investigations pointed to the driver indulging in his carnal desires without being too hot and bothered about keeping both eyes - and hands, on the wheel.
Perhaps he might have escaped from this incident with far less severe consequences as well if he wore his seat belt, as that would have kept him inside the car even after losing control. Rather, he was partially ejected through the sunroof, and death came by quickly and immediately. It is certainly a less than dignified way to go, especially when you are caught with your pants down - literally speaking, as the 58-year old accident victim is said to be not wearing any pants at all when the crash happened.
I guess proponents of self-driving cars will definitely cite cases like this as one of the main reasons that autonomous vehicles should be implemented worldwide as soon as possible, although there are still many kinks and issues to be ironed out where the safety of self-driving cars are concerned.
Apart from that, could it be because we are all spending more and more time on our mobile devices, so much so that we do not realize we are addicted in consuming media off it? Childwise, a research firm in the UK, has done a rather comprehensive study and came up with this set of shocking statistics - our young people are now spending more time online in front of a computer or Internet-connected mobile device compared to the regular TV - that is 3 hours vs. 2.1 hours. In fact, 60% of the 7-to-16-year-olds surveyed got their TV fix through a smartphone, tablet or notebook, while 38% of them prefer on-demand TV services like Netflix as opposed to regular TV. If this is an indication of how the adults of the future will act, then you can be quite sure that incidents such as the one reported above are going to be more and more common in the future - assuming autonomous vehicles work seamlessly without running into any kind of safety issues, that is.
What are we doing to fight for the future of the next generation so that they will not be enslaved by their mobile devices? Drivers of today too, should always maintain the mindset that no matter how many safety features a vehicle has, it is the driver's responsibility to pay full attention to what's going on right in front of them - and that means giving up on screen time.
