The road moved

Out in the western region, there are roads that go for miles. They all follow the terrain. And, so, driving allows one to get familiar with our huge space of country. That is an integral part of the American Dream. Move about. Do so in peace and safety, somewhat.

The robot-car developers do not understand this. Or, are they just so intent on enslaving with their overlay via the muddy cloud, that their brains are warped. Power corrupts, as the saying goes.

So, people have accidents. Distractions are a major cause. I describe one below.

Disclosure: The past decade has seen me put 250K miles on the same vehicle on roads all of the U. S. In none of these trips was there some mobile device of the dumbing type involved. Yes, not twit, nor email; just music. The old FM/AM was sufficient augmented with CDs and tapes.

So, yesterday, I was buzzing along. Interstate situation. That means, 2 lanes each way, shoulder, markings, and such. And, out west. High speed. So, I was somewhere below 80 (mph) and the road had been mostly unchanging for several 10s of miles. Traversing a huge valley, okay?

I saw a car come up and pass, probably in the excess of 95 (mph). I turned my head to look, to the left, of course. Young lady with a heavy foot. Let's hope that she will be able to handle the consequences of driving like that.

Not more than a few seconds after I turned my head, I heard thump (and felt the vibration). I was being Newtonian. The road engineers put in a slight shift, but enough for my vehicle to go out of the bounds. It was not marked.

Marked? If you look now, you'll see curves marked heavily if they exceed a limit. Why? People have blithely gone off the road too many times on curves that just went past controllable conditions. I have taken those for years (night and day) with no problem. But, I do appreciate the warning.

It does not take much of a road change to cause havoc to the unaware. Nothing to worry about. You, the driver, are supposed to pay attention.

So, yesterday, the front-seat driver said, you went off the road. I said, no, the road moved away. Now, many try to correct the situation and do it too quickly. That is wrong. You just ease back. The thumps give you some additional information. And, in the better states, they are off the right line. Some have the thumps right at the line which does not give you much leeway. It is easy to drift off to the right just from subtle changes in elevation. Road warp, so to speak.

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Now why would someone drive in such a situation with a dumbing device being in their face? In long stretches, there can be many road changes due to natural causes or man-made messes. Too, at a high speed, the amount of yardage covered accumulates quickly.

And, with a situation of an unexpected curve, how much time and yardage is lost before the mind gets back to the task of driving?

Making robot cars is no the answer. In fact, there are rules of the road (driving counsels) that we need to get specified. We'll try to write one of those soon.

Remarks: Modified: 10/25/2016

10/25/2016 --