Too Safe?

On an issue related to yesterday's, I believe that many of today's problems are a direct result of irresponsible legislation attempting to protect people from themselves. I believe that it is not in the interest of mankind to protect people from their own stupid, irresponsible mistakes.

Modern drivers are becoming less and less skilled and more and more irresponsible. Why? It's not due to any one thing, but a number of issues are at fault.

Drivers are not required to take formal driver's education classes, so they are taught the bad habits of their parents or older siblings, and regardless of the intent of their mentor there are always gaping omissions. Rather than making it more difficult to obtain a license, it gets easier every year. Unenforced and unenforceable restrictions aside, even though we are repeatedly told that "driving is a privilege, not at right", everyone believes it is their right and acts accordingly.

Vehicles are becoming so smooth and quiet and effective at insulating the operator from their real responsibility, which is guiding their vehicle down the road and staying out of everyone else's way, that they reinforce the human tendency to laziness and feed the feelings of entitlement and invulnerability. Even the poorest-handling modern vehicles handle better than the overwhelming majority of vehicles 30 years ago. Subcompacts today are more protective in a crash than the large cars of 30 years ago. With the increased handling limits and the much poorer driver education (even formal driver's ed, with its simulators and multimedia substituting for actual hands-on instruction, is seriously lacking), modern drivers suffer from massive overconfidence coupled with massive incompetence. Combined with the feeling of invulnerability they get with modern air-bags-everywhere, power-and auto-everything vehicles and the overblown sense of entitlement, it is a recipe for disaster. The most unfortunate aspect is that most people truly have no clue how thin the line is or that it is technology and luck, not their own skill, that enables them to keep tempting fate day after day with such rare consequences.

Laws are enacted that discourage personal responsibility rather than requiring it. Rather than requiring drivers to become more skilled and less emotional, they are encouraged to blame everyone else or even inanimate objects for their own failures. Rather than using 2-way stops, forcing drivers to take responsibility for interacting safely with traffic, we install more and more 4-way traffic lights, which use energy and other resources themselves, encourage drivers to disengage their brains and cause many more drivers to expend far more fuel and energy braking to a halt, idling at a stop and then accelerating back to speed.

Bottom Line:
I've only touched the tip of the iceberg, but the inescapable fact is that entitlement soars higher every year, while actual skill dips ever lower.

The Real Dope:
The fundamental issue - avoidance of responsibility - has effects that range far and wide.