It's true. People cannot see the automobile for what it is. A conveyance.
People see it as an extension of the arms and legs. An automobile becomes an organic feature on their body when they climb in behind the wheel.
The ego becomes deeply entwined with the automobile. It is a deeply personal ego attachment.
Not all people see the automobile in this light. Kids whose parents died in car accidents might not have the same ego attachment.
I must confess, I have had my leg ripped up by an Oldsmobile 98. And I have had my pelvis crushed by a runaway front left wheel of a 4X4.
My ego attachment to the automobile is scant. I could care less if I ever saw another automobile as long as I live, even though, I own one.
If the whole schmear of automobiles disappeared, to be replaced by less malign forms of transport, including self-driving cars, I would see it as cause for celebration.
In Canada, says Google, "In 2021, the number of motor vehicle fatalities was 1,768; up 1.3% from 2020 (1,746). The number of serious injuries increased to 8,185 in 2021; up 4% from 2020 (7,868)." (Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics: 2021 tc.canada.ca/en/road-transp)
These are often death-defying injuries, and each person down costs the medical system, insurance system, and society at large, a heavy loss. If that loss is needless, it should end.
Driving for fun will be available. Personal transportation will change in radical ways, bicycles and carts with batteries lasting hundreds of KM, vehicle paths for these forms of travel. The future resembles nothing of what we see today.
And this isn't a long time coming. It's almost immediate. The planet needs it. The people on the planet need it. There is no stopping it. All these people who insist they have control over their lives because they turn a little wheel on a dashboard, this is a prison yard mentality.
https://x.com/MackMcColl222It is the immediate future. There is no question about it. Driving with human error in the equation will be illegal before long because insurance will cost too much. It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when. I bet human operated cars will be banned from traffic before 2030.
— Citizen X (@MackMcColl222) December 13, 2024
