Help For The Old Man

 At 77 y/o my reflexes and vision aren't what they used to be, not to mention the old memory wheels are slowing and sometimes grind a little. This has somewhat hindered my ability to enjoy road trips - especially in my 2005 vintage vehicles. So I bought a new car with modern conveniences. The "modern" car has:

Collision avoidance = sensors will automatically apply your brakes if a collision is imminent.

Adaptive Cruise Control = you set the max speed for cruise control but if you come up on someone or they cut in front of you, the car will automatically slow/brake to maintain a safe distance. The ACC will also bring you to a stop if necessary.

Lane Keeping Assist = above 45 when activated, this feature will automatically steer the car to keep you in your lane. For instance if you drop your phone and lean down to pick it up it will keep you in your lane even while you're poking around on the floor for your phone. If you take your hands off the wheel it will work for a while, then it will scold you to be responsible.

There are other things, like when someone is in your blind spot it will light up a warning on your outside mirror(s). And if you put your turn signal on while that warning light is on, it will beep at you to let you know there's no room over there.

Anyway, I was out for a spin with my dog, Merlin. We had wandered quite a ways from the house and wanted to head back. The car also has Android Auto which connects your phone to the car's display and runs programs on your phone. I brought up WAZE, a crowd based navigation program, and asked it to plot me a route home. It drew me a route to follow suggesting it would be "27 minutes to your destination". The voice prompt said, "Continue straight for 5.2 miles."

After going a couple miles I noticed the route did not include Interstate 85 South which normally would have been the fastest way. Actually this route avoiding I85 was no surprise as 85 has been under repair/construction for many months. This construction stretch consists of two single independent lanes on the way south, which means everyone goes the same speed with no way to pass. The speed limit for these independent single lanes is 35. No matter who is in front of you or why, you'll be locked into your lane at that speed for many miles.

As I was about drive past the I85 S ramp on the preferred WAZE roure, I thought, "Why not? It will give me a chance to test out the Adaptive Cruise. And I actually enjoy going slow." So I went down the on ramp and merged onto I85 S into bumper to bumper traffic.

About this time, WAZE recalculated the route home to adjust for me being captive in a single slow moving lane for about 14 miles; it added 17 minutes to my ETA.

Speed Limit 35

 

 

Set Adaptive Cruise to 35.

 

Adaptive Cruise slows me to 5mph.

Once merged into the traffic flow, the Adaptive Cruise, set at 35, did a perfect job keeping me comfortably behind the guy in front with speeds between zero and 12 mph. 

 

Then out of the blue, WAZE made an announcement which tickled the daylights out of me. WAZE knew I had ventured into stop and go Interstate traffic, but did not know that it was for experimental purposes. And WAZE couldn't have known that I had my dog in the car, yet as the traffic slowed to a standstill in my captive lane, WAZE, in a thoughtful voice advised, "Petting your dog can lower your blood pressure."