I’ve been thinking a lot about the inherent nature of cars… how powerful they are, and how it’s weird that we take this for granted. Also, some lady recently t-boned my car by running a red light. So naturally I’ve been having weird flashbacks and driving really slowly…
… (this isn’t what happened, just a little narrative) …
I’m driving down the highway at around 69 miles per hour. The car is running on cruise control, allowing me to control the car solely by moving the steering wheel. I can feel the power of the car run through my fingers as the engine automatically accelerates to meet the speed I set it to. I begin to wonder what would happen if I dozed off (or randomly jumped out of the car)… the speedy, powerful little sedan would simply continue to barrel down the road at a high rate of speed, not caring that its controller has become incapacitated or unaware of the machine’s momentum. Or what if the cruise control went haywire and simply refused to let up, thinking it was simply doing its job by continuing at this high rate of speed? The human inside (me) would be powerless against this brutal electronically-controlled mass of steel and potential carnage.
These are strange questions to ask (I suppose) and strange feelings to have, but am I wrong? My car has at one point stalled slightly when I tried to disable the cruise control, giving me a gut-wrenching feeling of helplessness, although I only had to hit the brakes a couple times to get it working again.
I just feel like we drive to work everyday (some people commute for hours!), cutting people off and screaming at other people through closed windows, not even thinking about how powerful and potentially dangerous this is – of course until you get in a brutal wreck. I’m a great driver, and it’s really not that difficult, but some people REALLY need to learn how to drive. People of Tulsa, please, please learn how to drive correctly. Not only because I just got my car totaled… I see people everyday who simply refuse to use their blinker or are just idiots when it comes to really simple things.
Don’t talk on your cellphone or text, and if you do, just don’t drive like you’re not even watching. And don’t drink and drive. Thanks.
