The Day the Road Stops Needing Me

When I was in school, I was close to a particular driver just because I liked his style of driving, and anytime I want to travel, I usually call him ahead just to secure a spot in his cab. The fun part is that he has mastered the road so well that he knows almost all the potholes. Knows where to avoid when rain falls and why. I believe most of our drivers here didn't go to school to learn that.

Their experience on the road and in life taught them that over the years. Just one trip at a time, and they are mastering where to avoid and how to navigate. And when we were traveling one day, we had this serious discussion on the new cars being built, and they drive themselves. He laughed at us and said, “Make them come test them on our roads first". He was not discouraging the production. All I can see now is that he was just being realistic, because most people will always skip that part that he said.

And over the years, I have also taken my time to think honestly about it in two different ways, and it will be difficult for me to go with one without pulling back. What the technology promised us about all these self-driven cars is that there will be fewer or no accidents due to reckless driving from alcohol or poor road driving skills and judgement.

Those are the major causes of accidents here if we look at it. Due to reckless driving, a lot of people have said an unexpected early goodbye to people they love. And if self driven cars can take that away easily, something in me is willing to want to say yes.

But then, I am looking at it from another angle with what mainstream actually is here. Some of our roads, even the majority, are very bad to navigate when there is rain because of the zero drainage. Most of the areas don't have streetlights, and those with them hardly function, and if they do, they aren't as bright as expected. Some of these wheelbarrow pushers also compete on the same roads with motorcycles with all these speeding buses and trailers. So, how should we go about it when we place a self-driven car on the road reading the same lane marks that don't even exist, calculating the behavior of a driver that is following no rules, responding to the roads that easily change the personalities of others from morning till night.
With this, I am not seeing how such a system is going to survive a single market day in a busy country like mine. And before we even concluded on the accident area, lemme ask this. What will happen to those whose only skill is knowing how to drive.

And I am sure that a lot of people will be avoiding that question, "Who will pay when something goes wrong?” Most of the owners will take the blame on the manufacturer. While the manufacturer will also backfire by saying the cars is being misused. If our government is responsible enough, they might come up with a committee. Meanwhile, that family who just lost a loved one is waiting. I say that all these I mentioned are not pessimism, and from what I have seen, that is just another way we take accountability in this country.

Thank you for reading.

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