Most of the time when people say they have an unpopular opinion, it turns out it’s actually pretty popular.

Do you have some that’s really unpopular and most likely will get you downvoted?

  • ReallyKinda@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    The average person shouldn’t be allowed to drive. It’s extremely dangerous and most people are desensitized to it and absolutely don’t take the natural responsibility towards others that comes with having the ability to kill someone with a finger twitch (or a slight lapse in attention) seriously enough. I don’t think it would be allowed if it was just invented this year.

    • Synthead@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Too many places let you drive if you do the happy path stuff right: stopping at a stop sign, changing lanes safely, etc. But the most important time of your driving is when you’re about to hit a semitruck and you need to get your car out of the way, and there is no training material for this at all. People often panic and slam the brakes and aggressively turn the wheel, which is a perfect setup for understeer and losing control of your car. They are literally getting in a situation where they are about to die and they choose to greatly increase their risk due to negligence.

      It’s cheaper to run simulators than purchase cars and hire trainers. Get em in nasty situations and teach them how to get out of it. For real, if mom and dad can’t evade sinking their freeway missile into a van full of kids, they shouldn’t be able to get behind the wheel and be presented with opportunities where this might happen any time they drive.

      • Sooperstition@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        Maybe doing this will also make people more hesitant to get behind the wheel. If more people are aware of the risks of driving, maybe they’ll start to demand alternatives

    • BurritoBooster@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Germany’s driving test (and school) is fairly strict and will fail you for small mistakes which is good for beginners but after all, there is no test or reinsurance after some years of driving. After some time, people will see driving as a right not a privilege. This is the case for the vast majority of counties. This is the problem.

    • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Problem is that there’s no other alternative for most people. Unless you live in a city, public transportation isn’t a valid option. Most people living in most locations (at least in the US) have to have personal vehicles to attend school/work, shop, and socialize.

      Once self driving cars become commonly available, driving will no longer be a requirement and I think that driving licenses should be stricter on who’s allowed to drive.

      • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Problem is that there’s no other alternative for most people. Unless you live in a city, public transportation isn’t a valid option.

        Most people live in cities. And if 95% of the electorate can’t drive, you can bet alternatives will be prioritized.

        • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Only 45% of people in the US have access to public transportation.

          And just having access to some public transportation doesn’t mean you have useful access. Being able to access a bus stop doesn’t help if it won’t take you where you need to go, or if the time schedule isn’t acceptably close to your needed transportation times.

    • rockhandle@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Imo it’s kinda unavoidable. Humans make mistakes all the time. We could greatly reduce the risk however, if we simply reduced our reliance on independent vehicles. Unfortunately this depends on the place where you live as well but if possible, it would be much safer for the collective majority to bike/walk to areas or use public transport where applicable as it would drop the amount of traffic on the roads

    • ndguardian@lemmy.studio
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      1 year ago

      This is why I personally am looking forward to fully self-driving cars. We’re a long way off, but when self-driving cars can completely replace the human element, I think the world will be a much safer place.

      • STUPIDVIPGUY@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        This is short-sighted. We need to entirely divert away from using cars as our primary mode of transportation.

      • duh@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Or just a good public transportation system, really. I would never drive if I could take a bus to every place I need to go.

    • OOFshoot@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      There’s a few places that didn’t get cars until later and “no thank you” was a very common reaction. We really ought to just ban private ownership.

    • billy_bollocks@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I think updating the driving test to mandate proving you’re able to drive a stick would thin the herd quite a bit.

      Especially in the USA

    • Gargleblaster@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      People who die while driving are almost all die by accident.

      People who get shot are far more likely to be killed intentionally.