Which is more dangerous, drunk or no driver at all?
We’ve been watching with interest over the past couple of years the development of driverless vehicles. Over those years we’ve been told autonomous vehicles were improving. During those years we’ve not knowingly faced a driverless car or truck as we’ve traveled the roadways.
However, we did witness a driverless tractor which was fascinating. Later, we read news accounts of a driverless auto accident. The driverless tractor situation didn’t bother me, because I didn’t live next to an adjacent farm field. Then we came across a story of a Texas public road-strip where a few driverless trucks were being tested. That’s when the mind began working.
We began wondering how many driverless vehicles we had faced on the roadways and not even knew it. Probably very few after some deep personal recollections and we were even more soothed by a report that one in three accidents have been caused by drunken drivers.
The old logic kicked in and we figured over our years of driving we have/or will have safely faced more drunken drivers in our lifetime than a potential accident involving a driverless vehicle.
***
Speaking of accident potentials there was a report of a cement truck colliding with a prison van on the interstate highway. Motorists were advised to be on the lookout for 16 hardened criminals
***
We’ve mentioned many times the Betterhalf is an excellent cook and our household very seldom goes a day without a big meal. We very seldom make meal suggestions, but the other day we say a pretty neat birthday cake. It was a peanut butter-chocolate one layer cake that was round like a basketball and baked on a round cake tin.
It was decorated in such a manner that small Reese’s chocolate-peanut butter pieces made up the “brown” appearance of a basketball and a smaller darker chocolates represented the seams of the basketball.
We suggested that would be pretty neat for a birthday cake for one of the grandkids. The Betterhalf made a quick rebuttal saying: “Look, I’m a farm gal and my idea of good food is a ‘big farm meal’ and not some fancy-decorated dessert that may look good, but not taste so good!”
So much for the suggestion.
***
We can’t understand why goods sent by a ship is called a cargo, while goods sent by car is called a shipment.
RL Furse is publisher emeritus of the News-Register