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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   2556 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for December 7, 2022

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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I was in a semi serious car accident last week, everyone is fine but the 2002 F150 Crew Cab I've been driving since 2006 is a total loss. Insurance is paying for a rental (a 2021 Toyota) that is obviously newer and ostensibly nicer but I kind of hate it. While some of this is probably a combination of sentimentality and miscalibrated muscle memory (I keep reaching for controls that are not in their proper place), at least part of it is the preponderance of "features". Push button start, lane assist, a stupid splash screen that pops up on the dashboard periodically telling me my estimated gas millage for the trip, this thing that beeps and flashes when ever there is a vehicle at your 5 or 7 o'clock, and an "Infotainment system" that reminds you to wear your seatbelt and obey local traffic laws on start up. The only feature that I find remotely useful/would look for whatever vehicle I eventually end up purchasing as a replacement is the back-up camera.

I guess I've officially become one of those old men who hates technology and just wants a their phone to be a phone, and car to be a car.

On a brighter note I've been working on getting back in shape after kind of letting myself go during the pandemic and I'm feeling kind of chuffed that the falling line of my body weight just crossed the rising line of my 3-rep max for clean and press. I am once again in a place where I could theoretically lift myself over my head which I haven't been at since my late 20s.

I just don't understand why they don't come out with a parallel line of cheapo cars with limited computer bullshit like we had 20 years ago. There are a lot of people that don't like the computerization of modern cars. Why isn't the market stepping in to serve them and take their money?

It's literally illegal to sell cars without backup camera displays now, and a lot of the other computer stuff is probably also mandatory. Once you have it, the marginal cost of throwing all the other crap in for the people who like it probably isn't very high, so there's only one stable equilibrium.

That is the most nanny state shit I have seen in a long time. Is America some kind of an alternate reality where people are getting into accidents while backing out of parking lots?? Or did too many toddlers get run over by Ford Mctrucks with absurd blindspots?

did too many toddlers get run over by Ford Mctrucks with absurd blindspots?

Note that the reason Ford McTrucks (and the jacked up station wagon, more politely called a "crossover") are themselves so dominant is because, as I understand it, it's functionally illegal to sell their previous (smaller) versions. Lighter trucks and station wagons don't have particularly great aerodynamics as-is, so if your regulatory scheme gives more leeway for bad fuel economy the larger the vehicle gets, manufacturers will focus on larger trucks (balanced by smaller cars) at the expense of total fuel economy.

It doesn't hurt that aging drivers like jacked-up cars- they're easier to get in and out of, they put you above other drivers' illegal-but-unenforced hyper-bright high beams they're too stupid to turn off, and being higher gives you the illusion that you can see more out those larger and larger blind spots that arise due to collision standards, to the point where I suspect that in the future a car entirely without windows will be the most practical option.

Both of those plus American car companies ask for weird and arbitrary regulations (like "fleet fuel standards") to make it harder for foreigners to sell here.

Or did too many toddlers get run over by Ford Mctrucks with absurd blindspots?

This.

Backover: Vehicle backover injuries and deaths occur when a person is positioned behind a vehicle without a driver's knowledge as the driver backs up. Most victims of backovers are children and the elderly. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that backover incidents cause at least 183 fatalities and between 6,700 and 7,419 injuries annually; however, the number of fatalities and injuries from those incidents is subject to debate because no comprehensive statistics are collected on vehicular accidents on private property. Some safety groups assert that the number of backover-related injuries and fatalities is higher. Because these accidents often occur on private property, rather than on public roads, they are not typically included in traffic-crash fatality data.

In preventing backover accidents, the size of vehicle blind spots, the area behind the vehicle where the driver cannot see using his or her side or rear-view mirrors, is a key factor. Generally, the larger the vehicle, the larger the blind spot. Children are especially vulnerable since their small stature makes them harder to see within a blind spot. As larger vehicles, including SUVs, pickup trucks, and minivans, have become more popular, more drivers are confronted with larger blind spots. Currently, without a standard, automakers can design similar-sized vehicles that have dramatically different blind spots. For example, among midsized SUVs, a 5 foot 1 inch driver of a 2006 Jeep Commander Limited has a 69 foot blind spot versus an 18 foot blind spot for a similar-sized driver of a 2005 Nissan Pathfinder LE.

Probably regulatory capture.

Big 3 car companies dream of making the same kind of money as the Silicon Valley, they want to sell software bundled with a metal box with wheels, coupled with DLC and subscriptions... Dude technology!

There's a great convergence with the governments that want the ability to shut down cars remotely and prevent the Nick Fuentes of this world to go anywhere with no fly / nodrive lists.

Or, you know, trucker honking protests.

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