Safety isn't always first

We live in a sanitised world. Inoculations, safety razors, antiseptics, insurance policies, walled holiday resorts, the list goes on. Even war is a computer game.

Modern technology has us molly-coddled, has killed the hunter-gatherer's survival instinct, leaving us soft and complacent. It's hard work trying to hurt yourself these days. We've become cocooned from danger in little personal bubbles of safety.

Nowhere more-so than in cars. Twenty years ago, hit anything in a car at over 30 mph and it was sayonara. Nowadays you can plough into a wall at 60 km/h and barely spill the skinny latte you've been drinking whilst reading the newspaper with your feet up on the dashboard.

Modern cars are fitted with so many safety devices that it takes skill and determination to crash them. In addition to the (practically) standard features such as ABS, traction control and airbags, car manufacturers are constantly coming up with new ways to save us from ourselves.

You can now get Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), which maintains the distance between you and the car ahead, Active Steering (AS) which automatically adjusts steering to keep cars between white lines and something called the Electronic Stability Program, which rights your steering if you lose control on bends.

There are sensors which alert you any time something comes into your blind spot, meaning you don't even have to take your eyes off your dashboard DVD player as you drive. You can even get a feature that will call up the emergency services automatically when your car ends up on its roof.

Is all this really progress? No matter how many safety features are stuffed into your car, the fact remains that driving is dangerous. Paradoxically, part of the reason driving is so dangerous is because it feels so safe. The safer you feel, the more likely you are to take risks.

I'm going to go out on a limb here to ask an odd question. Are modern cars too safe? Having control wrested from motorists makes cars boring to drive. And when we get bored, we get "highway hypnosis". This is a state of mind brought on by drivers having little or nothing to do but keep their cars trundling along. It contributes to fatigue, leading to people nodding off at the wheel.

Researchers at a British university recently tested 44 drivers in a simulator and found their reactions were considerably dulled when ACC and AS were on. Effectively, they switched off and despite (or because of) all the safety features, were more likely to crash.

My old Bavarian Princess is 16 years old. Driving it safely requires every ounce of concentration I can muster. No airbags, no ABS, no traction control, nada. It has two safety features - seatbelts and me. The former only come into play when the latter fails, which thankfully, it hasn't yet. (Kiss of death there, folks. I'll probably have wrapped her around a lamppost by the time you read this.)

Not that I'm claiming to be a better driver than someone in a car full of safety gadgetry. I'm just more careful, because I have to be. That said, there's nothing I can do if someone in a "safe" car gets ABS, ACC, AS and ESP-induced narcolepsy and ploughs straight into me. Here's the Emissions solution: drive cars with no safety features at all, one that feels like a shopping trolley with a jet engine strapped to it. Install anthrax-dipped spikes on the steering wheel and seatbelts made of cheese wire.

I can guarantee you won't be nodding off or overtaking on blind bends while blabbering on your mobile phone. You'll be in far too much danger to do any of the idiotic things you'd normally do in your "safe" car and consequently, will be safer. See? Told you it was a paradox.