Are touch screens in cars dangerous?

[widge]

The worst situation I had on an autobahn was years ago, i was doing about 140km/h middle lane on a three lane bit, an idiot in a golf gti was closing on me fast just before it dropped to two lanes, he decided at the last minute he was not going to get past me before his lane ran out so he breaked as hard as he could, still shot past me over the hatched area and still ended in front of me but still breaking, by this time I was also breaking hard, he ended up stopped in front of me, luckily i managed to stop without hitting him, then he starts gesturing out of his rear window, I wasn't sure if he was apologising or cussing me, eventually he clocked that I was waving franticly for him to get moving, and accelerated away. I was scared stiff that another idiot was going to come along and hit us up the back.

[Hotrodder]

You need to see a few episodes of the "Caught on Dashcam" now showing on UK telly. Yesterday there were a few incidences of people having extremely lucky escapes from accidents (stupidity ?) on motorways. Several people stepping out of their cars after rear-ending someone else and cars in the left lane still zipping past the accident at full speed. In one case while one collision involving about half a dozen cars had just come to a halt, an out of control lorry plows into them. All daytime, good weather, good surface, but full of drivers who had left their guide dogs at home.

[Wilbro]

@Blaze
I also never use cruise control, nor lane assist, or have my mobile set on the comms system. All unnecessary and distracting from driving in a controlled manner.

[exile]

When I was doing my long commutes from Germany to here on a Friday night or return on a Sunday night I did use cruise control where the roads were uncluttered - which was a fair bit of the journey except in holiday times. This ensured that I did not exceed the speed limit on stretches of road which were heavily patrolled by the gendarmerie. Poor souls, often very tired and so lying down behind the crash barriers or propping themselves up against a support for an overhead gantry or even sitting down over the carriageway on one of those gantries.

It is horses for courses though. I would not do it on the Lyon ring roads or the A6/7 through the centre even with little traffic around. There are too many entry slip roads where someone could appear at any second, at any speed and take the non existent priority from the right..

[RobertArthur]

@ Exile, the Paris ring road is the only exception: Si vous circulez sur le périphérique de Paris, soyez prudent au régime de priorité particulier qui y est appliquée. En effet, cette voie urbaine est soumise à la règle de la priorité à droite. C'est-à-dire que les véhicules souhaitant entrer sur le périphérique sont prioritaires sur les véhicules y circulant déjà.

Almost every tourist thinks it's a motorway, those Parisians, not very polite...With the introduction of the 50 km/k speed limit it has been really transformed into a busy French city road. Look around you, certainly not at a touch screen.....

[Niftyons]

Touch screens are a PITA. Reversing cameras are manna from heaven.

[Hotrodder]

I was thinking that rear parking sensors might be worthwhile, given the impossibility of seeing the end(s) of my new 307.