Straight Talk Law Blog: You Can’t Get Distracted If You’re Not Driving By Seattle Personal Injury Lawyer Jason Epstein

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A popular old Greyhound bus ad campaign used as its tagline, “Leave the driving to us.” That’s a line that Google just might want to appropriate for the 21^st century.

In my new article, “Are We Safer with Google in the Driver’s Seat?,” I write about the new Google car that, wonder of wonders, drives itself by using hi tech sensors, a new level of GPS software, and a large rotating laser-scanner on top of the car that enables it to take a 360 degree “look” around itself. It’s programmed to recognize crosswalks, stop signs, stop lights and anything else important that a human driver would (hopefully) take note of.

The car seems to do everything it’s advertised to do. Although Google never sends the car out for a test drive without a human driver behind the wheel, the technology still does virtually all the work.

One brave ABC news reporter even tested the new vehicle by walking in front of it – the car immediately stops, much to her relief (you can watch the video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0I5DHOETFE).

Google claims the car is safer because technology is at the wheel – a computer doesn’t get tired, it isn’t susceptible to road rage, nor does it cause a car accident because it is trying to eat a fast food meal while going 60 mph on the freeway and accidentally spills a large Pepsi spills all over its lap. I don’t even think I’ve ever seen a computer with a lap, to tell the truth…

But to many people who have trouble getting through the day without their laptops or PCs having a massive hiccup or two, the idea of having Google behind the wheel might be a little less than reassuring.

All I can say is, as a personal injury attorney, I’m aware of all the many dangerous activities we flesh and blood humans engage in while we’re driving – activities that result in car accidents that cause more than a few of the over 35,000 wrongful deaths that happen on our roads every year. These include distractions from our cell phones, from eating and drinking, even from having our pets unrestrained and in the car with us.

So the question is – can a computer really be more dangerous that we currently are behind the wheel?

Perhaps the answer lies in the circumstances behind the only car accident in which one of the new vehicles was involved to date. While sitting at a red light, patiently waiting for it to turn to green, the technological marvel was rudely rear-ended.

By a human driver, of course.

Please feel free to visit my website at www.straighttalklaw.com , where you can order free books on personal injury and wrongful death lawyers, Washington auto and motorcycle accidents, auto insurance, and other valuable legal information, offered as a public service by myself and my law practice in Seattle, Washington. I also invite all teens to take the pledge against texting and driving at www.teensagainstdistracteddriving.com.