A Woman in AZ Was Killed by a Self-Driving Car

[PCX150Rider]

A woman in Arizona was killed by a self-driving car.

A link to the sad story. Makes you wonder what it means for road safety moving forward. What about bikes, scooters, animals, bicycles, and joggers etc. . ..????

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/201 ... 438473002/

[easyrider]

They are in the test tube phase and we are the inside the tube. Failure is be expected and they will learn, but at what price. Doesn't matter to big business.We are merely a trifling to their end game .

[springer1]

Their biggest impact will be putting delivery drivers out of work. I’d like to see them outlawed but hey that’s just me

[you you]

Ah well, puts 7,000 schoolchildren killed at school by schoolchildren in the USA in the last five years into perspective.

[gn2]

The solution is obvious, you need more self driving cars to reduce the fatalities caused by self driving cars.

[easyrider]

267000000 vehicles in USA if 1% failure rate that would be 2.67 million accidents. The question is then whether or not the technology will have a less than 1% failure rate.I have read that kids being born today will never need a driver's license. I wonder how the bad boys will reprogram the sensors for a drag race. ????
The other question is how well will owners maintain all those sensors through extreme heat, cold , mud, snow, wind, rain, fog ,and all the rest of what mother nature will have in store for us.An interesting future lies ahead.. depopulation ?????

[PCX150Rider]

I don't like cars loaded with excessive electronic extras. I don't like tinted windows. I don't like tire pressure monitoring systems. I don't like ABS. I don't like power windows. I don't like auto lock door locks. Damn. . .I guess I'm a "minimalist" at heart. I think the simpler you keep something the less chance of stuff breaking down and it's easier to work on. And as drivers I think we really should take responsibility to be aware of the condition of our vehicles by checking things out personally. Look at the tires each day before you get in. Check the oil weekly or more often if you have a dripper. Top off the wiper wash and check the radiator coolant level while you are at it. Track your mileage and bring the vehicle in for maintenance according to the schedule (or do what you can yourself. . .like oil and filter). And don't be afraid to notice the brake fluid level. Notice any weird noises lately? Try to hunt those down.

IMHO Anything applied to prevent rust and lubricants that extend engine life are always welcome however.

Are "distracted drivers" just an excuse for the digital industry to push through these autonomous vehicles that will contain even more digital stuff and increase their bottom line? It's almost like they've turned cars into Christmas trees and see if they can hang another product on the branch. All in the name of comfort, safety, and convenience of course.

I dunno. . .if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[PCX150Rider]

And another thing.

Even the cheapest cars you buy today have a bunch of stuff on them that you used to pay extra for not that long ago.

I really like my new Honda Fit but I could do without a lot of the extras it has. . .and I didn't get the top level model either which has "Honda Sensing" and other stuff. It's like they are trying to take the "thinking" part out of driving.

Years ago when motorcycles weren't the most "reliable" I occasionally would have to bridge a bad fuse with a foil from a Marlboro pack until I could find the problem and or replace the fuse. The realities of nature and physics are at work all the time and if history hasn't already taught us that electricity and electrical components are not 100% reliable then what more do we need? It seems to me we are pushing ourselves further out on a limb. There are those who say that the new autonomous vehicles will save lives and are the way to go but I don't believe everything I hear and half of what I see.

[Mel46]

"The victim was crossing a street outside the marked crosswalk at 10 pm at night. Police are investigating the possibility that she might have been homeless."

Keeping that in mind, even without it being self-driving you would have a hard time seeing and avoiding someone who stepped out into the dark street. The car had a driver as well, and there is the possibility that he could not react quickly enough to take the controls. Every one of these self-driving cars now has to have a driver behind the wheel to take back control. To me that means that this was an in fortunate even that could have happened to anyone in any car.

[easyrider]

I believe in most states the pedestrian has the right of way and drivers are responsible to have full and complete control over their vehicles at all times.Barring the possibility that she purposely stepped in front of the moving vehicle (suicide), drunk , drugged, or some other impairment, then I think the insurance company may be taking this one on the chin. Not being in the cross walk may help mitigate this some but I don't believe will exonerate the driver, notwithstanding other facts not reported. If litigated the driver would have to prove that there was absolutely no way to have prevented the contact based on lighting , location, angles, and a host of other details.Sometimes we drivers do get screwed.

[djbass]

Not the fact that a live driver behind the wheel of the car would be able to avoid the collision. Also, the movement of Autonomous machines can reduce the number of victims currently available.

[Mel46]

We have a major problem here in Atlanta because of so many...and I don't use this term lightly...stupid people.

I don't know how many times someone has been hit and killed while crossing the freeways at night, and I am talking about 8 lanes of traffic and cement barriers between the northbound and southbound lanes. In almost every case the individual was dark skinned, wearing dark clothing, and crossing where it is not lit.

To get to the freeway you usually have to slide down a cement incline, and then climb up another one on the other side. Common sense says these walls and barriers were put there for a reason. Also, EVERY freeway entrance has a sign that says no pedestrian traffic allowed.

There are also some wide streets that are very much like a freeway except that they have stop lights and crosswalks. People have been hit crossing those streets well outside of the crosswalks at night as well. Each of these places, including freeways, has a pedestrian crosswalk of some sort. The freeways have pedestrian overpasses.

Interestingly, some of these pedestrians seem to ignore the law and take the chance. I have actually seen people stand at a pedestrian crosswalk with the sign saying don't walk, and they step right out in front of oncoming traffic without even looking!

It is difficult enough to drive at night. These moving targets make it almost impossible to miss them, especially since drivers are obeying the law, but the pedestrian is not. In most of these cases the driver was NOT cited.

[PCX150Rider]

As we move forward in time, history will indicate the truth and separate the fact from fiction.

One of the intentions of the developers of the autonomous vehicles is to clearly eliminate tragedy on our roads. Whether or not that will occur remains to be seen.

I wonder if those self driving vehicles will stop or slow down for a squirrel . . .. Just saying.

[you you]

The solution is obvious, you need more self driving cars to reduce the fatalities caused by self driving cars.

Heads and over

[alx123]

so when will self-driving scooters starts to hit the road? Can't wait to be watching TV at home while taking a weekend ride to ChiangMai Thailand..

[PCX150Rider]

Just heard on the news that AZ is going to stop allowing Uber to continue testing autonomous cars. A step in the right direction IMHO. I'd prefer a human behind the wheel actively driving the vehicle and that being said I am OK with additional sensors for lane mitigation or emergency braking (as long as they work).

Here's a link to the news story.

https://www.cnet.com/news/arizona-suspe ... ving-cars/