My first crick in the neck, I remember well… as I was conversing with a 6’ 11” pro basketball star. Looking up to him, literally!
I’ve had a few cricks in the neck, since then, often from sharply pivoting my head and neck while attempting to parallel park in tight spaces. Those auto ads featuring cars parallel parking on their own, without driver involvement, are really something.
If I didn’t have this thing about high tech – I’m a slow adopter – to avoid cricks in my neck, maybe I’d consider such a car… a smart car, like smart phones and appliances and other consumer products. But then again, technology is great, as long as it’s working, but it’s a real pain, and often quite expensive, to have repaired, when it breaks down.
I may be banished from the geographical heart of high tech — where my family and I reside — for saying such things. But, what the heck?
Anyway, as the pandemic has been easing some, and things, gradually, seem to be returning to normal, traffic around here has been picking up, too… along with traffic accidents, unfortunately.
During the pandemic, traffic reporters on TV were almost dozing off. The freeways all around the San Francisco Bay Area were green on traffic maps, indicating that sparce traffic was smoothly rolling along. But lately, long stretches on freeways have been red, with traffic all backed up, usually due to accidents.
So, I don’t know… those fancy gizmos on cars that beep and flash warnings to drivers when they’re doing things they probably shouldn’t be doing while driving…maybe there’s something to them. Even taking folks out of driving entirely, with autopilot technology that’s been in the news, and talk of designing more things with artificial intelligence…
I mean… driving is great, and all, but not so much when things get crazy on the roads. Imagine having a vehicle taking care of everything for you! Anticipating, and perhaps even avoiding, nasty encounters with drivers making unsafe lane changes, or driving 90 mph in 55 mph zones.
Cars like that — autonomous vehicles — probably wouldn’t be programmed to lean on the horn, so to speak, or to gesture nastily in anger at other drivers.
Maybe there would be no more road rage. Imagine that.
And no more traffic tickets?