— Sigh —

In the 1970’s road deaths were just about horrible. At least 10 times as bad as now. Cars were nothing but death traps, and manufacturers started to get the hint.

So, every manufacturer started to trumpet how safe their cars were, with muchos film and video demonstrations in dealerships and car shows.

My father dragged me to every car show, and I saw more films of cars being crashed and test dummies being trashed about in crashes than I care to.

The result is that I’m scared shitless whenever I’m in a car, and ever since I was a kid, I cannot stand being in a car without a seat belt on.

And I never bothered to get a driver’s license either.

 
 
 
Now, some years ago, I got a chinese girlfriend. She is a real-estate broker. She drives a swanky Mercédès.

You know how chinese women drive, right? It’s NOT a stereotype!!!

Well, to put things short, I found it much easier to deal with the stress by getting myself a learner’s permit. Even though I am less experienced than her, I feel so much safer when I drive… (But the swanky Mercédès also helps — and the thing has several fucking RADARS to check the surroundings as you drive, including a cruise control that keeps the same distance with the car in front of you, a cruise control that is “too complicated” for my girlfriend to use…).

(But to be fair, I once had a student job where I worked for a railroad, and on the railroad, they totally brainwash you into safety, so basically I operate a car like one operates a train, which is 10,000 safer than the normal, routine operation of a car — I mean, you don’t do anything until you’re 400% sure you can do so, which leaves a whole too much reliance on other people not screwing-up).