Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike56
That last sentence is also the answer!
Drivers are rapidly handing responsibility for their actions to technology, cameras, sat-nav's, parking sensors and "emergency braking" being the latest. Gradually drivers (me among them) are becoming used to having less to be aware of, and it's getting scary. The cars have lane sensing devices so you can nod off while the cruise control and forward braking assist will take control of everything.........The cars even park themselves for you!
It was so much simpler in the old days ironically!
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The skill is in learning to use the technology not be controlled by it or getting dumbed down. I find cruise control to be a very useful tool which aids my driving, I can set it to the right speed and then instead of keeping looking at the speedo I can look out of the windows at the other traffic, on the latest trucks the cruise control can allow a variation in the speed and to get the best one needs to go into the dashboard menus to set those parameters rather than just rely mindlessly on the default settings. Similarly with satnavs, before mindlessly driving down a narrow lane, get the right satnav which allows for vehicle (truck or caravan) size, select a routing option which uses better roads rather than the shortest 'as the crow flies' route, zoom out and look at the bigger picture, and if in any doubt stop and check.
I'm not so sure about the good old days, you had to find your way to the town, then try to find a map or a half intelligent local, and even then it took some skill to interpret the map (or the local).