Lance Dopestrong wrote:fastpedaller wrote:Lance Dopestrong wrote:I'm astonished at the emergency override function just in case some twit speeds up while over taking. If that happens then one should abort the manoeuvre and pull back in, and not fling themselves head first ever faster and faster into danger.
In any case, if lorry drivers are owt to go by most motorists will simply drive on the stops anyway, making overtaking impossible. Ditto joining the motorway - they're restricted to 70, you're restricted to 70, so wheres the difficulty matching speed? The AA should stick to what they do best - leaving motorists stranded at the roadside for 8 hours at a time.
There may be a situation where I'd prefer someone who had already started to overtake me to be able to complete the manouver by going faster if the alternative is to drive into the side of me!
If someone has functioning brakes they should use them and pull back into safety. People should be taught to overtake correctly, and how to abort correctly. Captain Overtake going ever faster towards oncoming danger is a very bad thing indeed for you trapped on the inside when he has a head on, because you're going to join that party.
As the overtaker, accelerating is the outcome where you are least reliant on how the other parties react. If you slow down, and the car next to you (not unreasonably) does the same, then you're stuck facing the oncoming traffic, and have no more options.
I'm not arguing that it's clever to get yourself into this position, quite the opposite. But once there, accelerating out may be the most certain escape. It is unlikely that either the oncoming car, or the car on your left, will accelerate and reduce your overtaking space.
I was thinking about this the other week, when in the position of the oncoming car. I was happily allowing my autonomous cruise control (Nissan Leaf) to steer me down the centre of my lane on a long, straight A road in good visibility, when a nutter coming the other way decided it was a good time to overtake. I decided it was a good time to stand on the brakes, take back the steering, and dive to the extreme left of the lane to give him space to get past. It reminded me that autonomous driving features are still just driver aids, not systems that can take over responsibility for car control.
Although I find the utopia of fully self driving cars attractive, I do worry that they will be vulnerable to unpredictable human actions while they share the road with older technology. Maybe that's something to tolerate for the greater good, but maybe it will be enough to prevent uptake of the me tech. Once there have been a few "motorist killed by stupid self-driving car" stories, will people want to buy one?