Has automation in the automotive industry made drivers lazy?

It's been a beautiful summer here in the UK this year. We've been treated to day after day of blue sky and sunshine making the commute to work an absolute dream. 

However, I woke up the other morning to find the world wrapped in a thick blanket of mist and fog for the first time in what feels like a decade (but in reality is probably only a few months Blush)

So, on the commute to work that morning, I popped on my fog lights (both back and front) while driving along the country road that winds from my village and out to the main highway to help my fellow travellers see me in this fog soup, only to come up rapidly behind a small silver grey Peugeot with no lights on! Then on the other side of the carriageway, more cars coming head on out of the mist with again with no lights on... Fearful

I would safely estimate that 3 out of every 10 cars I encountered on my journey into work that morning through the thick fog and mist, was not sporting any lights on their car at all let alone the very useful fog lights that are purpose made for driving in situations of reduced visibility.

I'm aware that many modern cars have automatic lights that come on when light levels are low BUT I'm finding that many drivers are not taking matters into their own hands when it comes to deciding when their car lights should actually be illuminated. Again the other day the sky went black and there was a sudden downpour on the way home from work and again, many drivers did not have their lights on probably opting for the decision to be taken by the onboard light sensors instead. 

A friend of mine also has automatic main beam on her car so she doesn't have to decide when to use it and when not to. The car makes that decision for her. 

It got me thinking... have we gone too far with automation in vehicles? Should we be encouraging drivers to make more decisions for themselves when behind the wheel of their car? Have we in fact through automation, removed too much responsibility from the driver themselves? 

Parents
  • One of my pet hates is “day light driving lights” as people drive around without any rear lights on, tonight I did a taxi run picking my wife and her friends up from a restaurant and dropping the friends home, a car pulled out of a pub car park without any rear lights on despite having lights on the front.

    If lights are needed on the front they are needed on the back, like the Volvo’s that were the first cars in the Uk to always have lights on.

    Whilst we are at it, dedicated knobs and buttons on the dashboard that can be found intuitively in the dark without glancing down are much safer than touch screens and multifunctional keys. 

    I had a lift home a couple of weeks ago and the lady driving was rather perturbed because her car had been to a garage for a service and MOT, the mechanic had turned the lights off and she couldn’t remember how to turn them on having had them on automatic since she bought the car.

    Then there is the Landrover pannier boxes stuck on the side windows blocking the view from the drivers door mirror, I can have a proper moan about them.

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  • One of my pet hates is “day light driving lights” as people drive around without any rear lights on, tonight I did a taxi run picking my wife and her friends up from a restaurant and dropping the friends home, a car pulled out of a pub car park without any rear lights on despite having lights on the front.

    If lights are needed on the front they are needed on the back, like the Volvo’s that were the first cars in the Uk to always have lights on.

    Whilst we are at it, dedicated knobs and buttons on the dashboard that can be found intuitively in the dark without glancing down are much safer than touch screens and multifunctional keys. 

    I had a lift home a couple of weeks ago and the lady driving was rather perturbed because her car had been to a garage for a service and MOT, the mechanic had turned the lights off and she couldn’t remember how to turn them on having had them on automatic since she bought the car.

    Then there is the Landrover pannier boxes stuck on the side windows blocking the view from the drivers door mirror, I can have a proper moan about them.

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