What about accessibility standards?

OKAY HERE WE GO…OR HERE WE SIT

Ford, Toyota, and GM announce joint effort to develop safety standards for Self-driving and Autonomous  Vehicles.

Why?

<Sarcasm alert>  They really  really care about your safety>.

Well they do care about  your safety.  Without  you  they can’t sell their cars.  They are starting  to understand  that people are afraid of these self -driving machines, not because they  don’t believe  the facts that sometimes surface regarding  safety,  but because  people believe in themselves as drivers and as people in charge of their own lives.  Some folks saw their first car as the ultimate symbol of freedom and of the world believing that they  were really growing  up.  How does one  give-up that  symbol?  Car makers have sold their  products as symbols of status, coolness, sexiness, and just about  every other  positive  human  characteristic in the book….. Only a few  car makers,  probably  only one —Bolbo— has ever sold itself  on safety.  

None have sold themselves on accessibility—What would it mean if an commercial came on and said…. “look at who can drive your new Ford Freedom Machine? and then a wheelchair  user, a person using a white cane, two kids and a dog  jump in?  Well folks the technology  exists that this could happen tomorrow in most places and under most weather conditions. 

People cry for safety standards because they think  they are better drivers than a machine or they don’t think  that driving is a task machines  can do safely.  Some  cry out for standards  because  they fear change.  

So here is a challenge to all my  fellow folks who live the disability experience.  If the rest of the world  is going to use safety  standards to start developing the trust needed to sell these  new and incredibly  useful machines….then let’s use  safety too.  

What?

Let’s advocate  that if a Self-driving  car is not safe enough for us to operate under normal conditions or under specific conditions then it is  not yet roadworthy  because not everyone can safely use it.   

Okay you may think… if we can  get a person with a chair in the vehicle that should be enough.  You may argue that a blind  person can ride in just about  any car on the the road today.  Well good argument—-except—-Would you support  appliances that people  could  no longer use after the age of 21?   Would you  pass a law that  children over the age of 12  could no longer play  on the swings?   Would  you kick all left handed  people out of  restaurants because sometimes  when they  sit by a right-handed person  accidents happen?  

You don’t have to  demand that safety standards include access —-but it’s time to start demanding access for all or pretty soon we’ll have another set of transportation devices  that  exclude too many people when we could have done better.   These cars are already hitting  the showroom  floors and the chances to fight for access get slimmer every day.  

IT  is simply  time to start getting out there and making  our voices  heard.  The basic design  of cars  and their usability is at stake.  We have to wake  up ourselves…our  neighbors… the car makers… and the lawmakers… 

Maybe we can start by requiring  car dealers to display alarge sign—-let’s say at least  eight foot square— saying “NO ACCESSIBLE  VEHICLES SOLD HERE”     Perhaps  on every advertisement  the car company should have to add and read a disclaimer saying these vehicles  do not allow some of your family members to  get in, ride, or drive.  

That would be a start.

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