# Mercedes Ads...The car correcting bad driving. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 28, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-ads-the-car-correcting-bad-driving/555306 "2010-09-28T01:59:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-ads-the-car-correcting-bad-driving/555306/41 "2010-09-28T20:34:12Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > …Anyway, if I can find a better link to the study, I will post it. Bastards at The Atlantic didn’t properly cite the source of their data. Here is a more detailed explanation of the racing driver comparison to average driver. It is within a book called “Traffic Safety and the Driver” by Leonard Evans, and it appears that [the entire book is online](http://books.google.com/books?id=OyuGJJ6rKQ0C&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=%22Sports+Car+Club+of+America%22+%22Leonard+Evans%22+study&source=bl&ots=zqlfjakmGB&sig=FTwOnmqUXh9RAQcp-7g6I9HdJGg&hl=en&ei=1EaiTJySO6PhnQfO57SIBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false). The relevant section begins on page 134. One of the conclusions stands out. > [@](#): > > There is no clear relationship between safety and driving skills or knowledge. The very groups with the highest levels of perceptual-motor skills and interest in driving, racing drivers, young drivers, and male drivers, are the very drivers with higher than average crash rates… Many studies provide evidence supporting the general contention that people drive as they live. Involvement in traffic crashes is correlated with being emotionally unstable, unhappy, asocial, antisocial, impulsive, aggressive, unmarried, under stress or other similar conditions. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-ads-the-car-correcting-bad-driving/555306/42 "2010-09-28T22:27:01Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > If you tell someone that 75% of the time, their car will automatically avoid a pedestrian, they’ll think: “Oh, good, so I only need to pay attention 25% of the time!” Only if they’re an idiot. And if they’re an idiot, they’re probably a bad driver already. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-ads-the-car-correcting-bad-driving/555306/43 "2010-09-29T01:32:46Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > > [@Bosstone](#): > > > > You know, if this keeps up, eventually we’re going to have cars that can accept an address as input and automatically transport us there safely without us once touching the wheel.. > > That’s called: “taxi”. I look forward to when I can have a car that will do all that for me. And it’s not the same as a taxi. I can’t have a taxi on call and instantly available any time I want it. I have to pay every time I use a taxi- I don’t have to pay extra every time I use my car. > [@Swallowed My Cellphone](#): > > With seat belts, airbags, etc. it meant: “I’ll still get hurt really bad, but not as bad as before.” You still had the cost of wrecking your car, and personal injury to account for. So I don’t think those ever had the ability to contribute to driver laziness the way “my car can steer itself” can. Some people who don’t like seat belts or air bags have used that “I’m only endangering myself” argument. It doesn’t really work that way. A seat belt also increases the chances that you’ll stay in your seat in the car in a crash, and you can’t be in control of the car if you’re not in the driver’s seat. The airbag increases the chances you’ll stay conscious, and an unconscious driver can’t be in control of a car. > [@Swallowed My Cellphone](#): > > Volvo’s “false negatives” were the bigger problem. In a demonstration for the press, the car rear-ended a truck. The “pedestrian avoidance” feature mowed down the dummy in 25% of the demonstrations. What’s the failure rate for people driving a car without any additional safety feature, in these cases? It’s not zero, and you can’t pretend it is. Maybe we could make it lower by encouraging bad drivers not to drive. But that won’t happen by making driving more dangerous, because people get complacent about a danger that’s always there. That will only happen if we make it easier for people to live normal daily lives without driving, or without as much driving. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-ads-the-car-correcting-bad-driving/555306.md?page=2)