I've done a lot of driver training because of my job, but the vast majority of non vocational drivers don't and don't want to do any further training after passing their tests. If we cant encourage them I'm not sure therefore how we can make other drivers look properly.
Depressing isn't it. A general acceptance of the dumbing down of standards and skills. Eventually we'll have no choice but to sit in a driverless car as it'll be the only way 'the government' can keep us safe.
More than depressing, I find it a sensible recognition of that we are humans with our inborne flaws, that mishaps are inevitable and that there is a price to pay both for the individual and the society if we rely on only personal skills and responsibility. Rather well known truth, I must say. So if safety devices and regulations contribute to less deaths, mutilations, health care expenses and personal tragedies, I have difficulty seeing that as a problem. Of course there is a limit to everything, and there is personal freedom and the right of individual choice to consider. Still, if I get killed or injured in traffic, I am surely not the only one that gets affected.
I remember my father objecting intensely when wearing safety belts became mandatory in the early sixties. He said that it would create a new sense of security and make people drive more reckless, creating more accidents. So the "dumbing down" argument has been heard before. Anybody agree with my father's opinion today?
