Towing Safety Tech

azdryheat wrote:
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Every airline pilot is there with a boatload of professional training. Even the weekend pilot in his Cessna has professional and recurrent training. Most every car/RV driver has had no professional training other than from mom and dad or the salesman. In Arizona a person gets their driver's license at 16 and has no further involvement with DMV until their 65th birthday. Professional training? Recurrent training? Huh? My RV company made me get a CDL with an airbrake endorsement to drive all the RV's we sell. The CDL wasn't hard to get but passing all the tests did require serious study. My CDL must also be renewed every 5 years. Should the everyday driver have the same same standard as a CDL? It's a start.

I think that before we automate cars, trucks, and RV's we first train the drivers to a higher standard. Professional training with re-current training just like in aviation. If people had to go through what a pilot has to endure 1) we wouldn't have so many drivers (gridlock would also go away) and 2) the drivers we do have will be a more mature and capable driver. It won't make the roads perfect but it will make them substantially safer. Then, perhaps, we might consider some automation.

My first thought is No. I always get nervous when people say "the government should do something about this!" or "There should be a law!". Unintended consequences. At least in Connecticut, the training and classes for teenagers is rather extensive, at least compared to when I got my license decades ago.

My two kids had months of classes (a couple nights a week) and many hours of on road driving before they got their licenses. And even then, until they were 18 there is a bunch of restrictions on their driving - curfews, people in car (NO non-family in car), etc.

I think they driver training requirements are pretty good now, at least where I am.

I don't want to have to take "refresher" classes and re-certifications every year or two, and I don't want to force other people to.

I had CDL training years ago for driving fire trucks. Yes, it is good driver training, but I really don't see the need to make everyone go through it.

Would it be good to have everyone go through extensive driver re-training on a regular basis? Sure! Is every 5 years good enough? What about every 4 years? Or every year? At what point do you say enough?

I am still in the fire department (no longer a youngster who wears an air pack, though), and still respond to vehicle accidents. In my completely unscientific experience, the large majority of accidents today are caused by cell phone use. At almost every accident these days, the first thing the police ask the drivers is no longer "have you been drinking?" but "Were you using your cell phone?". Doesn't matter if it is "hands free" - holding the cell phone or talking to your dashboard doesn't make a difference. The issue is the conversation you are having is distracting you from paying attention to your driving.

Even if the drivers in involved in an accident weren't using their cell phones, another driver may have been and unknowingly cut people off or did something else that actually caused the accident, then the cell phone user just keeps driving, blissfully unaware of what happened behind them.

Get off your cell phone, then we'll talk about other issues.

So... swinging back to "towing tech", yes a lot of it is good, but I would be concerned about all those blinking lights and screens distracting the driver. I also am concerned about drivers DEPENDING on that tech instead of paying attention to driving safely. It has begun to happen more often now with the "self driving" cars - some people brag about doing work while letting the car "drive".

So.... do I like "towing tech"? YES! It is wonderful to help with towing. I just get concerned that the "tech" is not quite good enough, YET, to depend on 100%.