Automobiles have advanced the human race as much as about
anything you can think of. The story
goes that our forefathers walked 10 miles to school each day in the snow in
southern
What does the average 15-year old think about for his 16th birthday? Simple answer – driving. Of course, this is unless the person is blind. Team member Emily Lyons had no useful vision for about 9 months due to the loss of her left eye and damage to her right. During that time, we found out how much smaller a blind person’s world is. Even after some amazing surgery by Dr. Morris, Emily can only drive a short distance when the lighting conditions are just right. Stem cell research that may someday provide the method to restore vision, but we have no idea when. We can’t make the blind see, but we can restore their freedom to go where they want to go.
One would think that an experienced driver would have the most opportunities. However, we are less and less able to respond to the demands of driving as we get older. Instead of honoring the knowledge the members of our older generation possess, they are often confined to their homes or sent off to assisted care facilities. Due to age, reduced response time, and perhaps disease, driving is out of the question not only for their safety, but for the safety of everyone else on the road. Unless they have the money to pay for a driver or a taxi, they are effectively placed under house arrest. In the not-too-distant future, mobility can be restored. We haven’t found the fountain of youth, but we can make is so that the elderly and disabled will be able to go to the grocery store and have their car drive them so they can visit their families and friends.
In 2004, there were 42,518 people killed in traffic accidents. Of those, 16,694 involved alcohol. To put this in perspective, the number of alcohol-related traffic deaths is equivalent to a fully loaded Boeing 747 crashing, and leaving no survivors, every nine days all year long – over 39 airplanes in total. An airliner crash makes the news, yet we are accustomed to automobile fatalities. Why? The unusual makes the news. An airplane crash is rare. Someone dying in an automobile is commonplace.
War is a horrible thing and we do not in any way intend to
minimize the impact of war or the sacrifice of those who defend our country,
but this has to be put into perspective.
A total of about 50,000 were killed in the
Not only do almost 50,000 people die each year, countless others are injured. Statistically speaking, everyone who gets a driver’s license will be involved in at least one wreck during their lives. Automobile collisions occur an average of every 4 seconds. Lives are lost, injuries are sustained, money is spent on repairs, and our police force spends much of their time enforcing traffic laws and writing up accident reports.
We can fix this! The technology exists today or can be developed that will eliminate most if not all of the loss of life caused by automobiles.
The Nobel peace price came into being because Nobel invented
dynamite. The idea was that his
invention was so destructive that nobody would risk going to war. It didn’t work out so well. Supply vehicles are bombed and lives and
limbs are lost. DARPA’s
target for this technology is
The
Write your members of congress, the President, and anyone else in government you can think of. Restore our future’s funding. No bucks, no Buck Rogers.