Zero-Fatality Cars: Very Safe, But Probably Not Much Fun to Drive

I was very interested to read an Internet report recently that promises we will have zero-fatality cars within the next 10 to 20 years. Car companies will apparently employ computer simulations and virtual engineering to build safer cars and help reduce fatalities.  

The report goes on to explain that future vehicles will have active safety systems that slow the car as it follows curves in the road, and vehicle-to-vehicle communication that warns you about approaching traffic, meaning they will be much safer to drive. And there will be other safety features, such as road-sign recognition, pedestrian detection and autonomous car controls. 

But assuming we all eventually get these super-safe vehicles, what does that do to the auto insurance industry?  My first thought is that everyone’s auto insurance premiums would have to drop precipitously, since the likelihood of serious, much less fatal accidents, would be severely reduced.  On second thought, why would we need auto insurance at all?  Sufficiently perfected, these technologies should be able to prevent any accident from happening—unless something unexpected, like a tree limb, hits your vehicle. 

It seems to me that the more advanced such technologies become, the less need we will have for auto insurance.  At the very least, auto insurance will become a much less profitable business—a prospect that should send shivers down the spines of every auto insurer out there.  How will all those carriers replace that income?  Perhaps the answer is for insurers to start investing in such technologies and the companies who make them.  That way, when cars become too safe to bother insuring, the insurers can still collect royalties on the technologies that made those vehicles so accident-free. 

But my real problem with this trend is personal.  You see, I drive a fast little sports car with 7 speeds and lots of horsepower, and I confess that I enjoy taking the occasional sharp turn at higher than recommended speed or doing zero to 60 in less than five seconds.  With all those new technologies on board, however, my ride would probably be about as much fun as a trip across the yard on a riding mower. 

Now I realize that some of you may think me rather immature for complaining about new technologies that will, after all, save lives and reduce injuries and damage to vehicles.  That’s a fair criticism, and I accept it with the lack of grace typical of someone who wants his cake while eating it, too.  I have nothing against reducing fatalities and avoiding injuries, but somehow the thought of not being able to put my little hot rod through its paces is depressing.  If driving is going to be so completely controlled by computers, one might just as well lay tracks everywhere and take the train. 

I am only somewhat heartened by the reality that such vehicles are 10 to 20 years away. I also hold out a slim hope that we drivers will somehow be allowed to override some of those safety features and enjoy the optimum performance of our cars.  Unfortunately, however, I can already see small-minded bureaucrats salivating over having that much control over the rest of us. 

And who can argue with saving lives and preventing injury?  Auto enthusiasts—enjoy your vehicles while you still can!

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