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Dangerous Loophole

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I just received a breathless note from Bathtub Safety Officer Rafferty – a man so easily alarmed he ought to know better than to spend his precious spare time reading newspapers. Every page has something guaranteed to ring his bell. And yet he allowed himself to get drawn in to an article in the New York Times about the federal government and driverless cars.

Automatons!
Automatons!

As a result, he is pleading with me to use my vast connection with potentially dozens of blog readers to generate concern about the coming auto-dronepocalypse on our streets and highways.

“I don’t think people are fully aware of the potential threat posed by these road robots! Don’t get me wrong – I have more faith in machines than I do in people. Every human being is a string of accidents waiting to happen! But these autonomous autos were designed and built by humans, and because they are the result of the work of fools, there is no way they can be foolproof!”

But the thing that really got him was this quote from the article:

It is up to state and local governments to decide whether autonomous or semiautonomous cars are allowed on public roads. States including California, Nevada and Florida have already legalized driverless cars. They are not explicitly illegal in other states, because there is no law that says cars must have drivers.

“‘… there is no law that says cars must have drivers!’ Do you realize what this means? It is a gigantic loophole in our legal code – big enough for your mammoth SUV to drive through with all its sensors and GPS turned off! Apparently anything goes as long as you can prove you weren’t the one driving the vehicle. And once vehicles become blame-able, things are going to get very strange out on the roads. My advice – stay away from all interstates, state highways, county roads, city streets, cul-de-sacs, alleyways, driveways and cart paths for the next twenty years, until all this autonomous locomotion business gets sorted out! That’s what I’m going to do, and I suggest you do it too!”

I usually don’t take B.S.O.R.’s advice, and I’m not sure that it’s even possible to live in America in 2013 without going near roads. And surely there would be safety hazards to going cross-country all the time. Ticks, for one. Poison ivy too. Not to mention the drones overhead – another kind of autonomous vehicle.

Still, it does make me wonder what sort of life one could lead if the goal was to stay clear of all traffic.

Where is your favorite off-road area?

52 thoughts on “Dangerous Loophole”

  1. years ago i used to take the family to yellowstone every summer. the fire had been through recently and the scenic views were plain to see form the car window with all the trees the heck out of the way. yellowstone has always been a busy place and the summers 15 years ago were no exception. yellowstone is basically a figure 8 with different geologic feature in alll parts of the map. sweeping river valleys in one part to watch the elk and buffalo go to feeding, mountains in another where the bear watching was good, a mini grand canyon in another and the geysers and mud pits throughout for kind of a condensed course on different cool outdooor scenes to get involved in. you wanted to see it all but the deal was by the time you got up had breakfast got it together and set out for the days activities it ws alredy 1030-11 and then the tourists in fornt of you would stop and look at every buffalo crossing the raod and a moose or bear would stop traffic dead for 30 minutes. by the time you got to where you were gong it was time for lunch and then a 45 minute hike from the parking area to the feature of the day and it was time to think about heading back to dinner and off to bed. the whole day was spend in traffic in the figure 8 and it was beautiful but it was a bit like watching a movie out the front window of the car. a friend adivsed me the trick is to partk the car and go kike a mile in any drection and you will be out of the hubbub and all alone in the wildernes. everyone walks on the boardwalk to the colorful pools of water but no one takes the 1 hour hike to the waterfalls through the meadow because they cant see it form the road. each time we did this we found ourselves in a beautiful area with no other people around and the interaction with nature was very cool. oh except the time i thought it would be a good idea just to follow all the people hiking up this path to the top of mount something or other. it looked like fun and it was a beautiful day. so off we wnet and the wildflowers on the side of the path were plentiful and we sang hiking songs and laughed and ran ahead and back and up the path and stopped to look at the birds and bugs and off in the distance was the building the park had built for the hikers to stand in and read about the stuff they were looking at. it was a pleasant day with the sun shining and the air crisp and clear and the k=hike was invigorating, what a grea tway to spend the day. then one of the kids asked if they sold sandwhiches atht e top of the hill. i dont know we will see. do they have pop? i dont know. what is there to do there? i dont know i think you look at bears. and by the time we got to the top 3 hours ad passes and the sun up high in the elevation had started sunburning the daughter in my arms who was about 2 at the time and we had come without water of granola bars and the building at the top was just that . a building. concrete with windows to look out at the area where bears could be seen and htere ethey were . the sie of pepper out in the woods at the bottom of the other side of the mountain. really dad? we came all this way to look at those little brown specks way down there? well it is quicker going down than coming up but three hours coming up is still almost 2 coming down and what started out to be a spur of themoent adventure turned into a 6 hour trudge to see little speck with no food or water. we stuck to shorter walks with backpacks full of peanut butter sandwhiches and hard bolied eggs for the rest of the holiday but the story lives on. another hike found us quite a ways off the raod looking for a particular water fallls and the buffalo in a valley kind of moved in. we got to the water fall and on the way back the buffal hadnt kind of moved in they really and completely moved in and were sitting all over the path and would not be moving any time soon thank you very much. we had to hie way the hec around them as they are cool to look at but not cool to wak through the middle of an the kids had another good story about dad the trail blazer who takes his family out to be eaten by the bears. good grilled cheese sandwhiches in yellowstone for 4 dollars but that times 7 of us three times a day called for fireside meals of weenies and beans with a koolaid chaser on a regular basis. no wonder my kids dont have any desire t go camping these days. what did i do to them?

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      1. It is nice to know you can really confound your own self tim!

        Saw the request to write letters. I doubt it, but email or call to tell me more.

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        2. yes. after hiking for three hours to hit the vantage point. we stood in a building looking out the windows and looked down at the other side of the mountain and after 15 minutes someone said “oh there they are” and the bears were way the heck out there down the hill beyond two groves of trees. the bears were not the size or erasers on the tops of pencils the were the size of the salt and pepper. with binoculars we are able to see that they were indeed bears. with the binoculars they were the size of larger flecks of salt and pepper. you can only imagine the appreciation from the 13 11 and 7 years olds to have this be the highlight of the treck the 2 year old and new born just gave grunting sounds. actually everyone just gave grunting sounds

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    3. Our family took some camping trips and did some hiking in parks. One of my daughters was not favorably impressed by those experiences and has no interest in doing any more camping. There were a lot of hiking trips taken when the kids were young where they decided they didn’t want to do any more walking and I ended up with a kid on my shoulders.

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    4. Next time we’re there, tim, I’m taking your friends advice about the off road hiking, and yours about what to bring along.

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  2. and driverless cars. can you have your driverless car take you bar hopping and avoid the danger of the dwi? a fleet of closing time transporters would pay for themselves in no time. who do you ticket if they speed?

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  3. Good morning. The boundary waters canoe area is hard to beat for an off the road experience. If you don’t mind sleeping in a tent, it is not too hard to get very far away from roads of any kind. The canoeing is fun and not difficult. You do have to transport your equipment across portage trails which does require some effort, not too much. I haven’t been out in the canoe waters for many years. If I do find time to take another trip out into those waters, I will not use the old heavy aluminum canoe that I used in the past. I’m not as strong as I was in my younger years, but I think I am still strong enough to navigate the canoe waters if I make use of a lighter canoe that wouldn’t be too hard to carry across the portage trails.

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    1. I’ve been to the BWCA once and had a series of disasters that became a comedy of errors. We were there 36 hours:

      *Sat down hard on a rock, breaking my tailbone after a guy in a moose hat distracted me,
      *Was threatened with arrest by 2 female park officers after setting up tent in area posted for camping,
      *Set up new campsite as directed by said officers, across the lake on rocky hilltop which felt insecure during the ensuing violent lightening and thunderstorm,
      *Realized I had heatstroke and started to vomit,
      *Bear then climbed the tree in which we had strung our food, slashed the cord and made off with the bag,
      *We paddled out the next day, ate at the Cook McDonalds, and fled for our lives.

      Upon arriving home I decided to divorce the now wasband.

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        1. Indeed it was my worst trip anywhere, anytime. I was with a friend. As we neared the exit of the park and had to portage the canoe out, we were going to ask some burly guy to carry the canoe for us, the poor, weakened women. Then along came a group of disabled people, one of whom was wheelchair bound because his legs were missing. He would slide the chair in front of him, walk on his hands to the chair, then push it forward some more. We just looked at each other, picked up the canoe, and stopped our pouting.

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        2. I guess there is plenty of potential for things to go bad on a camping trip into the BWCA or any camping trip. I’ve had a few such experiences myself including a tree falling on my tent. However, you don’t have to be a great wilderness explorer to take a trip out in the BWCA as long is you don’t have as much bad luck as you had, Jacque.

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        3. Wow, that’s quite a trip, Jacque! A cautionary tale, BSOR would say…

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        4. jacquies storiy reminds me of one of my favorite motovational speakers jim rohn who had a memorable line i wanted to complain about not having any shoes until i ment a man who had no feet. lifes not too bad when you think that way.

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      2. That is an epic failure, Jacque. Friends of mine had what I thought was the ultimate bad BWCA trip. They fell out of their canoe, lost their food, slept in wet sleeping bags and dealt with a persistent bear. Your trip sounds worse! Losing the wasband is obviously the silver lining in all this.

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        1. Okay, one more effort to defend the relative ease of taking a trip into the Boundary waters. You just need to use some common sense in most cases. Canoes are not hard to paddle and they don’t tip over very easily. I never had any trouble with bears. I guess I have heard enough about bears getting food packs to look into better ways of protecting food from bears. I hung my food from a line tied high up between two trees. I think there are some bear proof containers that you could put your food in to be sure that the bears would not get it. If you use a little care you should be able to avoid dumping your gear, including sleeping bags, into the water.

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  4. I bet the loophole isn’t as big as Office Lafferty is thinking. I’m sure there are plenty of laws about licensed drivers? So a driverless car would not have a licensed driver, right? At least not behind the wheel.

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    1. i think a software program that would be required for a driverless car would be better than just about any teenager. better than his friends or the nanny you hire to shuffle your little ones around if you are of that pursuasion. i think delivery of things other than kids would be where it started but if it would pick up kids form piano lessons and baseball practices it would be a hero in many homes in no time. and the kids could listen to the radio loud and text while the driverless car looks after the items in the vicinity that need looking after. would you like to hear about my first threes driving adventures, i have another one due up a year form last feb 27th. her tank volvo with manual shift is waiting for her in the driveway. my wife wants it gone but i tolde her we need to have one to burn to let her drive. the family car takes an beating beyond reognition at my house. it may be in the genes,. i smile when i think of how my dad handled my backing one family car into the other and vice versa, hitting ci=visitors cars friends cars. ill bet i had 25 accidents in the driveway. always in a hurry and that little detail of looking in the review takes awhile to get the hang of right? course the drugs played no part in it at all.

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  5. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    My fave is the Bayfield Peninsula in Wisconsin and Madeline Island. Sigh.

    Maybe I need to plan my trip this summer….

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  6. In two weeks we leave for Nova Scotia and PEI with son and daughter-in-law. We plan to hike a lot, so will have to check out off-road opportunities.

    OT-I have been having what I thought was sciatic nerve problems, and finally went to the doctor, who astonished me by informing me I have significant lumbar scoliosis.She showed me the x-ray, and by golly, that was one big curve in my lower spine. How can you get to be 55 and never know you have scoliosis? I will have an MRI on Monday and I suppose I will have to see an orthopedic person to discuss what the options are. I see lots of PT in my future.

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    2. I wish you excellent PTs, Renee. My mom has this (plus spinal stenosis and a host of other back problems), and luckily this winter we found some good physical therapy for her…

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    3. you will be amazed how much better you feel after having a good chiropractor crack it good 2 or three times a week for a year or two. dont rush into surgery. the doctors recommendation varies substantially based on the perspective. i like gentle manipulation. i have been getting tweeked for 30 years and it makes a huge difference bsor has a brother in law who in the back surgergeon . they have specials on tuesdays where there is an all the vertebra you can fuse together for the same price as it would normally be for one or two. it may be worth looking into.

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    4. That’s not good news, Renee. If it hasn’t been bothering you, it might not be a very big problem. I hope that the treatment for your back goes well.

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  7. There are some great places in Northern California… so many remnants of the off grid dwellings still going from the 60s and 70s. And fine beaches. But my favorite off road place is a redwood forest about halfway between Ukiah and Mendocino. Can’t remember the name of the woods, but there are trails if you keep your eyes open. You walk up from the parking lot and it’s like you just entered another world, especially if it’s a misty kind of day. You’re in this cathedral, you feel the size of one of tim’s pepper bears.

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        2. A fit. It is I word I picked up in The Manticore, a wonderful book by Canadian author Robertson Davies. He used it to describe the reaction of the narrator’s grandmother when he put something in her chamber pot that smoked and bubbled purple smoke when she used it.

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  9. Skipping the more obvious choices, I recommend hiking the prairie of the Missouri Breaks country. I came to that late in life and was astonished at how pleasant it can be to just walk and walk through a wonderland of unlimited sky, wind and grass. There is something special about walking for four hours without seeing anything manmade.

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      1. The “Missouri” of the title is the river. All along the Missouri River in Montana and the Dakotas the land near the river is a fantastic, rumpled, grassland that features deep coulees and all sorts of wildlife.

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  10. The Smokey Mountains National Parks contains some wonderful isolated spots that you can reach by trail. It is especially nice to go there when the rhododendrons are in bloom.

    Another isolated area I like is the sand dunes along the shore of of Lake Michigan. The combination of the massive body of water and the giant sand dunes with nothing but sky above is special.

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  11. I have quite a few favorite off-road places, but I won’t go into them now (a little rushed and busy today…). In fact, I’m thinking of writing a guest post about one of them – someday.

    OT – middle daughter (the one tim likes), who is pregnant with twins, went for a doctors appointment today and they sent her home to pack for the hospital. She has been on bed rest for a couple weeks because her cervix was short. and now they want her in the hospital for a few days to give steroids (to help develop the babys’ lungs) because they are pretty sure they will be delivered before 28 weeks (she is at about 23 weeks now). Naturally, this happens the same weekend of youngest daughter’s h.s. graduation – the ceremony on Saturday evening (and youngest daughter is giving a speech), and the party-open house on Sunday. I’m going to visit middle daughter in the hospital in a few minutes, but I’m sure she is not going to have fun lying in the hospital while the rest of us party the weekend away.

    All that to say – if I manage to get online at all in the next few days, I will probably be just lurking…but even if I don’t have anything to say, I enjoy reading what you all say.

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    2. youngest giving the speech? impressive or what.
      hope all goes well for middle one. is her significant other back from philly yet?
      enjoy the weekend and dont worry about not plugging in your two cents. dale joins us on the weekends now and he will add his two for you.

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