BLIS - Really?

[darbs]

listen to the grumpy old men talking. things were so good in the old days! no wars, terrorism, strikes, 3 day weeks, riots, lower pump prices (OPEC early 70's?), everyone drove with safety in mind, standards were so much better.... in my day, when people rioted, they did so for a reason! their football team was so much better than the other one, so they had a good reason to prove it!

i suspect your personal standards have improved considerably over time, but people with less experience will always be people with less experience, no matter what day and age.

you guys have reminded me of another monty python sketch... http://www.phespirit.info/montypytho...rkshiremen.htm

btw, when i took my driving test, it took half an hour and 15 of those minutes were in a traffic jam. that standard has definitely changed. also, when i was a kid children were often seen climbing all over cars whilst their parents drove them around. no chance of that today.

[Matteus XC60]

Originally Posted by scotgc

Next time you are driving just take a look in your rear view mirror and see how close the car behind is. Never mind they will have ABS so it will stop without hitting you if a child runs out and you have to perform an emergency brake

I basically agree with your views on this Scotgc (and Iain's) but on a technical point, driving more closely behind someone due to having ABS really is idiotic. Given that the car in front probably has ABS as well (and hence will also stop quicker) there should be no reason to believe that you can drive any closer than you could in the period prior to ABS brakes being widely available.

(Viz-like)top tip for removing blind spot risk: drive at 130mph at all times on the motorway. That way, the chance of anyone coming up from behind you is negligible. In fact, you can probably ignore your mirrors completely!

[XC60MY12]

Originally Posted by darbs

you guys have reminded me of another monty python sketch... http://www.phespirit.info/montypytho...rkshiremen.htm

Is this a ten minute argument or the full half hour?

[XC60MY12]

Originally Posted by scotgc

Devices such as BLIS, lane assist, radar cruise control, lane deviation warning etc etc just lead drivers into believing that the car will effectively drive for them when it cant and isn't

Where's the evidence? Repeating it doesn't make it so.

[XC60MY12]

Originally Posted by darbs

btw, when i took my driving test, it took half an hour and 15 of those minutes were in a traffic jam. that standard has definitely changed. also, when i was a kid children were often seen climbing all over cars whilst their parents drove them around. no chance of that today.

Luxury!

[Matteus XC60]

Originally Posted by XC60Fan

...Repeating it doesn't make it so.

Well you say that, but imagine that a man writes on an A4 -sized piece of paper in normal sized handwriting 'this page is full of writing'. Clearly this statement isn't true. However, if he repeats this many times (on the same piece of paper), at some point it will be completely accurate. My conclusion is that in some cases, repeating it does make it so...........

[XC60MY12]

Originally Posted by scotgc

Perhaps the Taliban would disagree that planes do not fly without pilots!

Yeah, they really do think technology is dangerous. But drones, like "doodlebugs" are not really what we're talking about are they?

[XC60MY12]

Originally Posted by Matteus XC60

Well you say that, but imagine that a man writes on an A4 -sized piece of paper in normal sized handwriting 'this page is full of writing'. Clearly this statement isn't true. However, if he repeats this many times (on the same piece of paper), at some point it will be completely accurate. My conclusion is that in some cases, repeating it does make it so...........

LOL! And if you put a man on one side of the room and a woman on the other, then keep halving the distance between them, in theory they'll never meet, but they will get close enough for practical purposes!

[Matteus XC60]

Originally Posted by XC60Fan

...but they will get close enough for practical purposes!

Never heard it called that before!

[XC60MY12]

And another thing...

Originally Posted by scotgc

After 40 years of driving.....hardly makes driving pleasurable though does it?...Generic safety devices do save lives, that is without question.

If you've been driving for 40 years (a few years less than me), you'll recall when seatbelts came in. People were outraged at this infringement of their liberty and many resisted them for a long time. So what are "generic" safety devices? Rear view mirrors? "People will spend all their time looking backwards instead of where they're going!". Enclosed cabins? "Driving was so much more pleasurable when you were out in the fresh air despite the flies in your teeth!". Speedometers? "I'll spend all my time looking at it instead of at the road!". Man with red flag? "Driving was so much more pleasurable when you had company!".

I guess there will always be reactionaries. I prefer to embrace technology with all it's possible downsides (internet anyone?). But then I'm a glass half full kind of guy - except when I'm driving of course.