That depends very much on the risk reward factor. Do many accidents, or deaths occur because of passing out at the wheel. Are people falling asleep at the wheel because they shouldn’t be driving due to fatigue? Should they be taking a cognitive fatigue test before being allowed to take the wheel? Etc,
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I found research suggesting up to 20% of the approx 1600 road deaths a year in the UK alone may be sleep related. The highest proportion on Motorways.
Bruce
PS 1600 deaths a year, another 27,000 seriously injured. Every year. We seem to forget this and somehow accept it.
A car like this is sxxt loaded with gazillion cameras, lane departure and surroundings info etc. and my car even monitors my eyes and tells me if I am not looking ahead properly e.g. if I keep my eyes on the screen for too long - which is of course, far too often in any modern car.
So I really can’t quite see much excuse for the car to just break and kill the driver (or the one in the car behind) on the motorway for not holding the steering wheel strong enough, you know, just in case, and for not behaving!
I cringe to think what a replacement windscreen would be as they have to be coded to the car now with all the inbuilt tech.. crazy
Or just the dash screen. Already there are cars little more than 10 years old where the car is basically in excellent condition but is legally bricked by a failed dash screen that was a highly irregular shape with no third party replacement.
As it isn’t legal to drive without dials, the loss of the LCD panel can make them instant junk.
A bit like a perfectly working and high ape phone being bricked because the manufacturer stopped providing updates and apps no longer working on the old version. Modern technology has more built-in obsolescence than ever before.
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That is a particular hate of mine in our EX30… everything is buried in menu’s on a screen that isn’t infront of you… as soon as you look at it the driver sensor is nagging you to concentrate. Infuriating. If you stuck with actual physical buttons and stalks for key driving controls I wouldn’t have to get ‘distracted’ in ridiculous menu systems…
As for speed sign detection, thank god it’s not mandatory to control the car!!
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Just when I thought they couldn’t make the front of a BMW any uglier I have just seen the new X5.
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but come on…… Tom.
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I have just had a look at the new BMW X5. I agree Tom, not a good look. (and I am a BMW owner, although it is an 8 year old X1)
I agree, but just give it time. At least the monstrous grille has gone and in its place a return to the kidneys of old, even if they do initially look a little odd on this one.
Remember that the Bangle BMWs were quite shocking when they appeared but age has only improved them - remarkably so in some cases.
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All this talk of kidney grilles, we are planning to get this rust job on the E30 done this month. Might have a new badge too:
One of the things that gave me confidence in the restorer when we went to see him, was that he said back in the day, he owned a 325i. It had a black headlining. Lots of people tried to make lookey-likies out of their 318is, 320is etc. Inevitably they let themselves down changing the white headlining to black. I liked his detailed knowledge.
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I quite like the new direction BMW are going in with the styling. Saying that, it’s still a hideously oversized vehicle which seems to be the fashion these days.
New BMWs have completely lost their sense of proportion in my view. Once proudly styled, now just bloated. Now these worked well and looked wonderful
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Is that rusty flitch panel available from BMW?
The restorer thought it might well be.
(If you remember the carburettor problem we had of a year or so ago, there were three available, on the shelf in Munich.)
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One senses drawing boards and pencils, lumps of modelling clay etc.
But perhaps there was loads of cad-cam even then.
That’s good news if it is. Easier than fabrication of a new section.
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The restorers that I trusted and paid specialised in putting fillers, paint and underseal over rust.
On the face if it they seemed friendly, trustworthy, keen, enthusiastic…how wrong I was.
This is my personal blog for their poor work and my work to rectify it all so far.
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As a BMW driver since 1992, I have never liked the Bangle designs, of which my current 3 Series is one, but still love(d) the quality of the cars & the way they drive.
The only thing the current cars do aestheticly for me is to make the Bangle designed cars look vaguely attractive!