We are skeptical of driverless vehicles. Perhaps it is because we are comparing their driving to our own, rather than to the driving of stupid people. No one considers themselves stupid, so it is about those other people.
What do we mean by stupid people? And is that different than the worst drivers? It seems that worst drivers is a more popular topic than stupid ones. Stupid implies lack of intelligence, and worst points to their driving results. Worst is so much easier to observe.
So on to the worst drivers.
I found an article HERE that ranks the best and worst drivers in the world. The best? Japan, then Netherlands, Norway, Estonia and Sweden. The worst? Thailand, Peru, Lebanon, India and Malaysia.
Where is Canada? In the worst list. Where is the U.S.? Also in the worst list. The factors used for the rankings were road quality, speed limits, alcohol limits and traffic fatality rates.
Thailand is head and shoulders above the rest - known for speeding, reckless passing, and failure to obey traffic laws. Russia is known for the most viral videos of accidents.
Another article looked at male vs female statistics, age statistics and country statistics and amenities up with this conclusion:
"...if you’re a male teenager in Thailand thinking about driving, find you’re running late and start to feel aggravated…it’s best to just stay home."
In comparison, driverless vehicles live a mundane life. They don't pass on the right, speed above the limit, and so on. The "worst" scenario is mostly missing. Perhaps it is the notion of "stupid" that applies. Driverless vehicles seem to have fewer accidents under routine conditions. They have higher crash risks when turning, or in dim light like dawn and dusk.
And this scenario? Driverless cars "roaming" the streets empty of passengers or cargo? That was one headline. I couldn't guess this future scenario.
And when I give it some thought - could it be that there's no honking, squealing of tires, cutting each other off, passing on the right, and all the myriad of human aggressions on the road? that was a tiny moment of bliss. The futurists seem to think it is that time between the all driverless and the all human driver period that we have to watch out for. They expect the human-drive cars to get more aggressive. Here's the last paragraph of an interesting article tackling the topic:
"Meanwhile, if you see a self-driving car coming down the street, be prepared for not what the self-driving car will do, but instead for what the human drivers nearby the self-driving car will do. Those pesky and inconsiderate human drivers will do what they do, including and especially when they come upon a self-driving car."
