1st it was Tesla's Autopilot and now Ford's BlueCruise is under the spotlight.

A fatal accident involving a partially autonomous vehicle could test the laws surrounding advanced vehicles.

Should drunk drivers go to jail if advanced car technology lets them down?

The question could be answered in a test case in the US, where an electric car with advanced semi-autonomous driving systems failed to stop when confronted by stationary vehicles on a dark highway.

Police said a man driving a Hyundai Elantra stopped to assist a stationary Toyota Prius on a six-lane highway at 3am on Sunday March 3 when both men were hit by a new Ford Mustang Mach-E travelling at speed.

AP reports Police charged the driver of the Ford, 23-year-old medical student Dimple Patel, with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and involuntary manslaughter.

The American news service quoted a criminal defence lawyer, Zak Goldstein, as saying the case would test US laws surrounding drink-driving, as prosecutors must be able to prove that “DUI [driving under the influence] caused the homicide”.......

Should drunk drivers go to jail if advanced car technology lets them down?

Yes! You as the 'driver" behind the steering wheel, sober or not, are ultimately responsible to control the vehicle even if it is "semi-autonomous".

These vehicles are nothing more than fancy toys being driven controlled by a dumb computer that's programmed by another dumb human being. GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Should drunk drivers go to jail if advanced car technology lets them down?

It depends.
If it is a fully autonomous vehicle, then no. The person in the vehicle can't be responsible as it's not possible for them to drive it.
But any other sort of level of autonomous vehicle- yes, the driver is still responsible as they are there to take over if something occurs that the cars systems can't deal with. If they are drunk, then they are DUI.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Someone might have forgotten to take their meds..
‘Erratic’ plane passenger ‘ripped open’ exit door, walked onto wing: ‘Strange behavior’

Thought you were impatient to depart an airplane? An antsy passenger was arrested in Australia after he “ripped open” the emergency exit of a grounded aircraft and walking along its wing.

“The man was exhibiting some quite strange behavior,” a “terrified” fly-witness Audrey Varghese, 21, told Melbourne Radio 3AW of the wild incident. The incident occurred aboard a Jetstar flight that had flown from Sydney to Melbourne, CBS reported.

The plane had come to a halt at its destination, when, suddenly, the unnamed flyer “immediately got up and basically charged to where the emergency exit row is,” she recalled to 9 News Australia, adding that he appeared “erratic” and was “shoving people, causing a bit of commotion.”

Yeah, that was about 3 weeks ago.
Hopefully a huge fine and banned from flying.

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Grant
Darwin NT

An update on the Bruce Hwy explosion with some history of other such incidents.

Bruce Highway truck explosion leaves Bororen residents reeling week after blast.

.....Shock waves were felt for kilometres.

Mr Humphries and his family were forced to evacuate after a 2.5-kilometre exclusion zone was put in place following the fiery collision.

"We were told just grab the essentials and leave," he said.

When they were finally able to return to their homes, they were met with twisted and buckled doors, smashed windows, cracked ceilings and walls, and rubble.

Mr Humphries said the full extent of damage to nearby properties was unclear with insurance assessments now underway.

The highway reopened this week under strict traffic control and speed limit changes following a five-day closure, but authorities say road repair works may last for weeks.

Scott Collins, who runs a vintage record store on the Bruce Highway in downtown Bororen, said it was lucky the close-knit community was not wiped out.......

Well that plane isn't going anywhere in a hurry.

Tail section knocked off Delta plane during collision at Atlanta airport.

GROSS! How did they miss this at the passenger's baggage screening?
Amsterdam to Detroit flight turns back as maggots rain down on passenger

A flight from Amsterdam to Detroit was forced to turn around after maggots fell from the overhead bin onto a passenger.

Passenger Philip Schotte told Fox 2 that the woman sitting next to him on Delta Flight DL133 "was freaking out" when at least 12 live maggots fell on her.

"I don't really know what was going through my mind. I was trying to process it – disgust is one thing of course," Mr Schotte said.

He said the passengers had to wait for flight attendants to come, who tracked the critters to a passenger's bag in the overhead compartments.

"They found out that there was a rotten fish in there," Mr Schotte said. "I did see everyone's reaction to the bag being opened, which was just an immediate pinching of the nose."

He said the fish, which was wrapped in newspaper, was taken to the back of the plane while the flight returned to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

"I am surprised that both a rotten fish and live maggots were not picked up on by security," he said.

In a statement, Delta Airlines said the trip was "interrupted due to an improperly packed carry-on bag".

"The aircraft returned to the gate and passengers were placed on the next available flight. The aircraft was removed from service for cleaning."

A few things that may contribute to this very unpleasant event:
For most internal European flights cabin baggage doesn't get a deep screening.
Amsterdam airport is a massive interchange hub, where flights from all over Europe (and beyond) congregate.
In some parts of Europe rotting fish is a "delicacy", and it may be considered "normal" to carry it in one's cabin bag.
Not all passengers passing through Schiphol from within Europe have to check-in their baggage for their next flight.

So if Mr.Rottingfish flew into Schiphol from say Bergen (where rotting fish is considered a "delicacy") with a connecting flight to Detroit it is highly probable that his bag would only be checked at Bergen, and he would carry it with him for the rest of his journey, and only the size f the bag would be confirmed, and Delta probably allow a much more generous bag than Norwegian or SAS the bag would be considered to be "OK".
I do have to ask where was Mr.Rottingfish's common sense in carrying rotting fish wrapped in newspaper for several hours and not to expect the rotting fish, or its maggots, to escape.

On one of my trips to China a "fellow passenger" was caught trying to board the flight with an opened jar of Durian. He was caught while we were going through one of the numerous "security" queues by an airport cleaner. Let's put it mildly - he missed his flight, and probably the next few (it was against airport rules to have a jar of the either opened, or sealed). When the bag was opened (a good few yards from the queue) the stench rolled across the place, accompanied by a sea of people retching....

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

That story was from 7 months ago.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I thought there was something fishy about it. LOL!

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From seven months ago, that is one well rotted fish!


Fly safe??
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Delta Airlines oops while taxiing on runway.
Delta runway taxi accident.

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Carola bridge, one of the four main bridges crossing the Elbe river in Dresden/Saxony (500K inhabitants) collapsed partly one day ago at 3 a.m. Bridge consists of three separate bridges (2 for cars, 1 for trams and pedestrians). Only the tram bridge collapsed. Last tram crossed the bridge just 18 minutes before. Bridge was build in 1967-71. It is the prestressed concrete bridge with the longest span (120 meters) in eastern Germany. Bridge condition was known to be poor for a long time; corrosion on exposed prestressing elements was reported in maintenance assessments; renovation planned for 2025. Middle section now blocks the river. Flood is expected for the weekend.



Trams each 10minutes and 30,000 cars crossed the bridge each day. There will be a traffic chaos for the foreseeable future.

[photos]

Good news is: no death or injured.

Interesting pictures. Some appear to show how the bridge was constructed, in particular 2/24 & 7/24. I hope the authorities get to the route cause of this failure quickly, and that bridges of similar construction are inspected and "cured" before any more collapse.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Interesting pictures. Some appear to show how the bridge was constructed, in particular 2/24 & 7/24. I hope the authorities get to the route cause of this failure quickly, and that bridges of similar construction are inspected and "cured" before any more collapse.

I find 21/24 the most interesting.

At the time, it was an extremely modern, cost-efficient construction that for the first time had only one pillar in the river. (The previous bridge, blown up in WW2, still had two river pillars). But as with the Ponte Morandi in Genoa, if the prestressing wires are embedded in concrete, you cannot inspect them visually or replace individual wires during maintenance. You are restricted to inspect the concrete from the outside for cracks, so you really know almost nothing about the condition within. I'm no civil engineer but I think today's bridges are constructed differently; with easier to inspect support structures.

Someone won't be getting the best father of the year award
5-year-old backs car into traffic while driving 3-year-old sibling, Texas cops say

A 5-year-old drove their father’s car onto a road as he shopped inside a Family Dollar store, Texas deputies say.

The child’s 3-year-old sibling was also discovered to be in the car, which the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said had backed out of the parking lot of the store on Monday, Sept. 9.

According to a report from the sheriff’s office, witnesses saw the younger child exit the car as it was in the San Antonio road. The child was picked up by bystanders, authorities said.

The 5-year-old then put the car into drive and reentered the parking lot, running into a curb, deputies said.

The father of the children, deputies said, later told investigators he had left his children unattended in the vehicle with the ignition on as he shopped inside the store “for less than ten minutes.”

“The father stated he was alerted by staff his vehicle had moved and crashed in the parking lot,” according to the sheriff’s report.

Deputies said the children were not injured and no damage was done to any vehicles or property.

The 41-year-old father was arrested, according to the sheriff’s office. Charges were not announced.

Serco should be charged over this bit of dangerous stupidity.

A weird device that looks like it stepped out of a science fiction program spotted on the roadside has left drivers and cyclists alike incredibly puzzled.


It is illegal to park in bike lanes, or do they think that they're above the law?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c93p35wd00eo Another truck gets hit by aTrain

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Old enough to know better(but)still young enough not to care

Carnival cruise ship collides with large piece of ice

The words “Titanic moment” are possibly the last thing you want to hear on a boat – but that was the phrase used by one passenger on board the Carnival Spirit cruise ship last week, after the vessel unexpectedly struck a large piece of ice.

No one was hurt on board and the ship was undamaged by the incident, which a Carnival Cruise Line spokesperson described as the vessel hitting “an errant piece of drifting ice.”

Carnival Spirit was sailing in Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska, a waterway south of the city of Juneau known for its spectacular beauty – and pieces of floating ice.

Videos of the incident circulated on social media in the aftermath, as multiple passengers filmed the moment the ship collided with the large piece of ice.

... Despite these difficult conditions, “we very rarely – if ever – see any issues related to sailings in icy waters,” said cruise expert Chris Gray Faust, executive editor of Cruise Critic, a review site and online cruise community.

“Today’s cruise ships are specifically built to sail a number of different waters,” Gray Faust told CNN Travel. “Those that sail in Alaska are not only able to withstand icy waters, they have experienced captains who are familiar with the landscape, which is why the incident being reported caused no issue to the ship or the sailing."