have shown, people aren't rational.
So drivers tend to do incredibly stupid things...

That's it in a nutshell
Driving licenses are categorised, so should fines & sentences.
Any LGV/HGV driver involved in incidents like that one should lose that category, if not their license. for life
Have we as individuals become so selfish that we have become immune to the world around us?

Watch out, helicopters are falling out of the sky.

4 people, including infant, survive helicopter crash near Philadelphia.

1 injured in Navy helicopter hard landing.

Thankfully no one has been killed.

Cheers.

A 30-year-old man was killed and his 20-year-old passenger was critically injured ...

Tuesday afternoon when their car was hit by a Porsche Cayenne, which had been racing with another vehicle on an Arlington street, police said Wednesday.

A preliminary investigation estimated that the Porsche Cayenne was traveling 80 mph in a 45 mph zone when it hit a Honda Accord at an Arlington, Texas intersection.

The driver of the Porsche faces two charges of racing on a highway causing serious bodily injury or death, police said.

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So any reasonably well written & debugged software will make less mistakes & choose the better option when an issue arises than the average person will under the same situation.

Boeing's MCAS.

An example of something that wasn't fully developed (what should happen if there are erroneous inputs?), combined with the lack of training for the new system by those that moved from previous model aircraft to the new ones with the system. Add to that the failures of the regulatory system that made that possible.

Tesla's autopilot that allows idiots to climb into the back seat.

Hardly a surprising failure on the part of the developers.
Most people wouldn't imagine that there are people stupid enough enough to do something so retarded. But there are, so now it's something that all automotive automation designers need to take in to consideration. Stupidity beyond all reason.

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Grant
Darwin NT

This is what really worries me about vehicles that can be (or require) a connection to the Net.
Teen hacker gains remote control of over 20 Teslas

Nineteen-year-old IT security specialist David Columbo reported in a Twitter thread Monday and Tuesday that he gained complete control of over 25 Teslas in 13 countries without their owners knowing. He doesn’t want to disclose exactly how he did it until he reports the vulnerability to the non-profit Mitre. However, Columbo did say it was due to errors on the owners’ part, not a security flaw in Tesla’s software.

What doesn't make sense to me is how the problem could just be due to the owner.
If the cars & their systems were designed properly, it shouldn't be possible for the owner to do something that makes it possible for someone else to take control of them...

---

Grant
Darwin NT

Add to that the failures of the regulatory system that made that possible.

There is no regulatory system for cars that want autonomous functions.

Tesla's autopilot that allows idiots to climb into the back seat.

Hardly a surprising failure on the part of the developers.
Most people wouldn't imagine that there are people stupid enough enough to do something so retarded. But there are, so now it's something that all automotive automation designers need to take in to consideration. Stupidity beyond all reason.

Hence the warnings to not put toasters in water, not use screwdrivers as pry bars, ... and the list goes on. It must be the expectation that if it is possible for stupid to do it, stupid will do it frequently. BTW that includes stupid reprogramming the car so it needs to verify its code hasn't been tampered with.

If the cars & their systems were designed properly, it shouldn't be possible for the owner to do something that makes it possible for someone else to take control of them...

Default password never changed?

Add to that the failures of the regulatory system that made that possible.

There is no regulatory system for cars that want autonomous functions.

A huge failure in it's own right.
Cars have to meet all sorts of conditions to be sold here in Australia- crash tests, handling & braking requirements, wheel & tyre widths, lights, emissions etc.
There need to be minimum standards for cars with Autopilot functions, and for those that are (or can be) autonomous.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Tesla Full Self-Driving videos prompt California's DMV to rethink policy on accidents

“Recent software updates, videos showing dangerous use of that technology, open investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the opinions of other experts in this space,” have made the DMV think twice about Tesla, according to a letter sent to California’s Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), chair of the Senate’s transportation committee

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Will this be the first successful prosecution of an idiot that thinks "Autopilot" means no hands driving?
Tesla driver charged with vehicular manslaughter after deadly Autopilot crash

Prosecutors in California charged the driver (of the Tesla), age 27, in October last year though details of the case are only just emerging, according to AP on Tuesday.

He is facing two counts of vehicular manslaughter, and is free on bail after pleading not guilty.

The felony charges, we're told, mark the first time a Tesla driver has been criminally prosecuted in America for a deadly car crash in which Autopilot was engaged.

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Watch out for monkeys in Pennsylvania

Police in the US are searching for four monkeys that escaped after a truck carrying 100 of them was involved in a crash.

The trailer, which was carrying the monkeys to a laboratory in Florida, collided with a dump truck on a motorway in Pennsylvania.

Here in the UK at least, the golden rule for all courts is: "Ignorance is no defense in the eyes of the law"
Saying that though:

This “helps no-one”, he warned. “Neither the walkers and cyclists the rules are meant to protect, nor the drivers who are somehow meant to telepathically know about them.”

29/1/22

Some of the rules/advise are going to make life very dangerous for cyclists, particularly the "A above H" brigade who will interpret "should" as an absolute mandate to do things that are blatantly dangerous, like passing turning vehicles on the inside of the turn.
Too many of the rules are lacking the "If it is safe to" note.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

I'm trying not to think of the chaos when a driver turning left off a 50 mph dual carriage ring road, suddenly decides he has to stop before turning because of a pedestrian or cyclist who's about to cross the minor road, in the rush hour period on a cold and wet day.

Ohio Turnpike snowplow damages at least 40 vehicles, injures 12

Around 1:46 p.m., the Ohio State Highway Patrol received reports of the incident and responded to the eastbound lanes of the Ohio Turnpike between state Route 4 and state Route 250, according to Sgt. Ray Santiago. Troopers on scene discovered the snowplow had been traveling westbound in the inside lane and caused snow and ice debris to be thrown into the eastbound lanes, striking passing vehicles.

There were at least 40 vehicles involved and 12 known injuries, troopers said.

... In addition, a spokesperson with the Ohio Turnpike confirmed the employee driving the snowplow truck was placed on administrative leave and was sent for mandatory drug and alcohol testing. An OSHP spokesperson said the driver was not injured and is cooperating with investigators.

... OSHP said that the incident remains under investigation and potential charges are pending the review of the Erie County Prosecutor's findings.

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Now 1 would have to ask, "why?", after seeing this.

A driver has shown nerves of steel as he performed a 26-point turn teetering on the edge of a ­terrifying sheer drop.

Cheers.

That is one crazy 'dare'...


Keep searchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

New highway code road sign - "Trouble ahead"
Lawyers paradise

Bridge collapses along Forbes Avenue through Frick Park in Pittsburgh

The bridge that carries Forbes Avenue through Frick Park collapsed in Pittsburgh early Friday morning.

It was unclear if anyone was injured. Pittsburgh Public Safety tweeted that updates on possible injuries would come later Friday morning.

A photo from Post-Gazette news partner KDKA-TV showed at least four vehicles that had fallen into the chasm left by the collapsed bridge, with another vehicle dangling precariously over the edge.

Port Authority confirmed that one of its 60-foot articulated buses was trapped on a slab of the remnants of the bridge that fell into the ravine. Agency spokesman Adam Brandolph said the bus driver and two passengers were able to escape and no one was injured.

Ironically

News of the collapse came as the city prepares for a visit from President Joe Biden, who is scheduled to speak Friday afternoon at Mill 19 in Hazelwood.

Mr. Biden is expected to speak on infrastructure during his remarks, particularly with a stress on the importance of the recently passed $1 trillion bill that is intended to fund repair and maintenance of the nation’s roads, bridges, railways and other physical infrastructure.

Nationwide, the American Society of Civil Engineers said in a 2021 report that 46,154 bridges were considered in poor condition, or about 7.5% of the country’s 617,000 bridges.

It's all about the money, honey.