What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?

[Eklipze3k]

I've said this before, and I'll say it again - autonomous cars will not work while there are non-autonomous vehicles on the roads. Until they can all talk to each other and adjust accordingly, it'll never work. Right now, each autonomous system works independently, and since they don't have the same breadth of experience/ability to react to new situations as a human they'll never work as well until the entire system is predictable.

 

[StevenRB45]

Without building a road network that is similar to the rail network, i.e. absolutely enclosed to any other traffic and effectively an unexpected item free environment I don’t see how they will work.

That doesn't mean I don't think large parts of driving could be automated but there's so many little fiddly bits you do not think about on a daily basis and "judgement" situations that occur in an open system that a car you can actually just let do it's own thing is a long way away.

 

[AndyRKett]

A lot of new automated technologies are having a big impact on toad deaths, things like collision avoidance and automatic braking do prevent accidents.

Stability control systems have also made a big impact in stopping people careering off the road into a tree so there has been a lot of progress over the years.

One of the main problems as I see it, are people expecting technology to be 100% fool proof, for example of all the teslas sold there have been a couple of auto pilot deaths which people lose their minds about where as there are hundreds of deaths caused by people every day

 

[Eklipze3k]

A lot of new automated technologies are having a big impact on toad deaths

 

[portland_bill]

Training fleet car drivers, I have experienced lane keeping systems in many vehicles. Most will only intervene as the car touches, or starts to cross the lane line, which can be too late to avoid a collision, especially if it meets another veering towards it. Making the system bring it back earlier might be more difficult, as any parameter might make it fight against the opposite side. Imagine if it brings you back from a line if you stray within half a metre, but the lane is less than a metre wider than your car. You'll bounce back and forth like a drunk. Some tend to do this gently anyway.

These systems rely on a camera up ahead of the interior mirror, and should be in the swept area of the wipers, but dirt, or a squashed insect can render it blind, so not foolproof.

I think that as more systems 'help' the driver, the driver's ability reduces. Then when needed to take over and react to any situation they will fail. Staying alert as a situation develops helps plan or react, but being alerted to it, having to identify the problem and then deal with it, will take too long. Even in a meeting traffic situation, such as a narrow street, the car will stop and hand back to the driver, who will then make a mess of sorting the issue. It is bad enough already.

As said, we'll only get to full auto when all cars talk to each other, but single-track roads will still be a challenge, and when you get home, many will not have the capability to park it themselves.

 

[portland_bill]

As a Driving Instructor, I have to renew my ADI licence every four years. The current one expires this month. The new one arrived today. They've used an old photo, so I am now at least 8 years younger. They've also not aligned the photo in the box, which is just messy, and in laminating it have made it curved. That will probably make it fall off the screen frequently, so four years of trying to stick it back up.

Pure genius.

 

[dave]

A lot of new automated technologies are having a big impact on toad deaths, things like collision avoidance and automatic braking do prevent accidents.

probably other wild life too cant see it breaking for birds nd rabbits like i do

 

[dave]

Sold my daughters Doblo to a nice polish couple today. told them about the forum so we may see them here. Just Ivor to go now and house will be fiatless for the first time in about 20 years

i could go get the Idea back off my son he has just left it in on his farther-in-laws drive for the last 4 years :chin:

 

[portland_bill]

probably other wild life too cant see it breaking for birds nd rabbits like i do

Rabbits don't know which way to go, so panic and sit in the line of fire, can be difficult to avoid the silly things.

Most other wildlife, including birds will move, and slowing will not help.
Most wildlife has to compete for food, and when they've found some, others will come and take it away. They get good at moving away at the last moment, to get as much as possible. A car is just another predator/food competitor. A bird will stay put, eating as much as it can, and will move away at the last moment. If you slow down, it just gets longer to eat, and stays longer.
By all means slow a little, but beware following traffic.

Bigger animals of course will make a big dent, but only slow, don't swerve. Most animals will swerve to avoid a predator, so keep straight and let them swerve. Otherwise you have a 50/50 of following them into the ditch.

Pheasants, came from Mauritius, with no natural predators, so do not see cars as such, which is why they happily jump in front.

 

[dave]

Rabbits don't know which way to go, so panic and sit in the line of fire, can be difficult to avoid the silly things.

down the lane where my unit is the ones sitting on the right always think running across to the left is safer, the ones the ones on the left think the right will be safer. on the way out they all switch back. no one realises just staying put on the edge they are on is best.

 

[portland_bill]

down the lane where my unit is the ones sitting on the right always think running across to the left is safer, the ones the ones on the left think the right will be safer. on the way out they all switch back. no one realises just staying put on the edge they are on is best.

Perhaps they just like playing 'chicken'.

Many animals have realised that vehicles are an unusual predator, hunting only on the grey stuff. Whereas most predators will chase prey, we only hunt on the grey stuff, ignoring anything on the green stuff. So the animals know that hopping onto the verge is a safe place.
Crows are very clever, knowing that white lines also divide us. Witness them gently hopping to the hard shoulder of motorways, and back out again.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Rabbits don't know which way to go, so panic and sit in the line of fire, can be difficult to avoid the silly things.

Most other wildlife, including birds will move, and slowing will not help.
Most wildlife has to compete for food, and when they've found some, others will come and take it away. They get good at moving away at the last moment, to get as much as possible. A car is just another predator/food competitor. A bird will stay put, eating as much as it can, and will move away at the last moment. If you slow down, it just gets longer to eat, and stays longer.
By all means slow a little, but beware following traffic.

Bigger animals of course will make a big dent, but only slow, don't swerve. Most animals will swerve to avoid a predator, so keep straight and let them swerve. Otherwise you have a 50/50 of following them into the ditch.

Pheasants, came from Mauritius, with no natural predators, so do not see cars as such, which is why they happily jump in front.

My mother was a great animal lover. We lived in the country with a couple of fields we owned and there were always horses, orphan sheep from the farm next door being bottle fed, ducks, geese, dogs, etc. Driving with her was always hazardous as she would do almost anything to avoid wildlife on the road - been up the verge with her more than once! This was the late 50's/early 60's so nothing like the traffic density of today in rural Scottish Borders then. Then if you did hit something we always had to stop and go back to check if it could be saved or best dispatched to a "better life" - She was also strongly religious. However I could never square all this caring for wild animals with the fact that she, on occasion, rode with the local hunt!

 

[portland_bill]

During my years at the sharp end of the motor trade I have recovered many vehicles from ditches, having swerved to avoid wildlife.

Rabbits do not seem to have much idea what to do in an emergency, and do not even make a collective decision like many others.
2007 I think it was, when we had a lot of rain and floods. On the outskirts of Lechlade, lots of fields were flooded, so the rabbits had to come out to avoid drowning. Only high point was the roadside verge, which was not big enough for them all. Sadly, the overspill onto the road left an enormous mess. But as the fields and burrows filled, the fields were a mass of swimming rabbits, some going in circles, and all heading in any direction, all crossing each others' paths, some changing direction mid-field. The definition of chaos. Both funny, and sad all at once.

Then to brighten the spirits, was a canal boat in the middle of a field.
When floods come, boats are difficult, as the rivers and canals are hidden. When there is a line of moored boats, it is best, I think, to pass them on the opposite side to their mooring ropes, but one narrowboat pilot decided different. Ran aground in the field. Was there 10 months before the ground was solid enough to support the 8-wheeled crane needed to lift it onto a truck. Couldn't just pop it back into the river, ground too soft at teh edge. Was also quite bizarre passing it frequently, seeing cows grazing around it.

 

[puntofan01]

Pugglt Auld Jock My tuppence worth:

I'm aware that this isn't representative of everyone, but merely an example of what CAN happen.

I'm also not academically minded, so I left school with adequate, if unremarkable GCSE grades. I immediately started looking for work, and eventually took a job at a local shop. Over the years, I've had a reasonable amount of jobs, due to various circumstances, but I've always been in full time work, even if it has been of relatively low income. A few months before I turned 28, I was in a position to start the process of getting a mortgage, and just over a month after my 28th birthday, I got the keys to my very own flat. [emoji846]

My best friend, whom I went to school with, left school and went to college, before going to a fairly local university, where he achieved a degree in Graphic Design, (I believe that's what it's called!) as he was hoping to go into computer game design and development. Now, there isn't a great deal of that going on where we're from, and he ended up working for Specsavers opticians, where he's still working more than 6 years later. Shortly after he turned 28, he started renting a flat, and when he turned 30, with a fair amount of financial assistance, he too started the mortgage process, and he now lives down my road, in a flat identical to mine!

 

[AndyRKett]

I'm aware that this isn't representative of everyone, but merely an example of what CAN happen. [/QUOTE]

The flip side of this is a friend of mine who went to uni when we all left school he did a year and dropped out, he then spent the next 20 dossing about and now works in call centres.

I spent my youth dossing about (Although I did by my first flat when I was 19, not that I believe that means anything in terms of success) then when I was 27 I sent to uni and did a 3 year degree, started a job straight away out of uni on about £24k and within 3 years I was on £40k prior to this I was earning naff all in dead end engineering jobs where the only people earning decent money were the managers.

Now my wife and I rent because it give us flexibility in our work if we want to up and move to another area.

So these sorts of stories don’t mean anything.

 

[SB1500]

In my opinion, too many people are going to university these days which is flooding the marketing with degrees so much that the value of a degree for an employer is not what I imagine it was back in the 70s / 80s / 90s.

I think some courses are better suited for local technical colleges and some real high end intellectual courses should be at uni only.

You can get a degree in dance now..... [emoji52] And of course; over in the US ‘gender studies’, a science study area that has been still water since the 60s.... just my limited thoughts.

 

[AndyRKett]

In my opinion, too many people are going to university these days which is flooding the marketing with degrees so much that the value of a degree for an employer is not what I imagine it was back in the 70s / 80s / 90s.

I agree and you might be right there.

I think some courses are better suited for local technical colleges and some real high end intellectual courses should be at uni only.

You can get a degree in dance now..... [emoji52] And of course; over in the US ‘gender studies’, a science study area that has been still water since the 60s.... just my limited thoughts.

I think you have been able to get degrees in dance and music and art for a very long time now, most of the people who play in the various high end orchestras around the world will have degrees as they trained to a very high level to get where they are, I dear say many ballet and other high level dancers have done the same.

Gender studies definitely has not been still water since the 60s it seems every day someone comes out with a different take on how they identify and there are a lot of companies and corporations who employ people with qualifications in these areas so they don’t get caught out and make a mistake that sees the company going viral on Twitter or similar.

When ever you see some “expert” they have pulled in to comment on something on the news, I always wonder to myself what sort of qualification they have to, have ended up with that job. More often than not the weirder the qualification the more unusual job they have and there can be a lot of money to be found in weird specialities. It’s probably many of the common genetic courses where people don’t make the best of it.
Do a degree in history, there are limited jobs in history and many people might go on to do a masters or a PhD but if you just do a degree in history then you end up a curator in a museum on minimum wage

 

[StevenRB45]

Do a degree in history, there are limited jobs in history and many people might go on to do a masters or a PhD but if you just do a degree in history then you end up a curator in a museum on minimum wage

Oddly enough I know 2 people who qualified with history degree about 15 years ago.

One of them lives with his Mam and works at a food factory. The other is a Drama teacher/dept head in Egypt.

Probably proves how pointless these stories are...

1st one sounds like failure to launch..but he spends all his and long term girlfriends money on fast cars and travelling round Europe photographing racing and wildlife which is what he actually wants to do for a living.

 

[AndyRKett]

Probably proves how pointless these stories are...

1st one sounds like failure to launch..but he spends all his and long term girlfriends money on fast cars and travelling round Europe photographing racing and wildlife which is what he actually wants to do for a living.

Yep all these anecdotal stories are pointless. However the data does show those with degrees earn more over the long term than those without. Obviously in that there is going to be the ones who never went to school but are now multimillionaires and those who have a degree masters PhD etc and are now sleeping rough.

I’m going to guess your friend who takes photos and travels all over was not helped in those pursuits but having a degree in history.

I always revert to history degree as an example of a pointless degree mainly due to something that happened when I was younger. A school friend of mine was going to start university about 2 years after everyone else who had been to school with us and he had spent that time saving up a few thousand pounds to help fund his way through uni (at a time when you literally didn’t pay anything) and I asked him what he was going to study he said “history” and when I asked him what he was planning to do with it, he said that the head (at that time) of Norwich Union/Aviva had a degree in history. As yet I do not think he has made it to the head of Norwich Union actually I think he works in catering now, he did get his history degree though

 

[chris3234]

wasn't that simple the ones who didn't get down graded were all from private schools, now the spaces have all been used up by private kids the poor kids get their grades, it was all a scam

That pretty much how it works anyway
Those from posh school get places first