Auto Safety it should be law.

by MJ | Aug 4, 2017 | Politics | 0 comments

Recently I had gone out to look at the latest and greatest and top of the line cars. One of the things that struck me is that the highest end cars have more buttons. One would think that LCD screens and touch display, and with voice-activation would be the mainstream on all models of cars. Sadly, it’s not. That type of technology is saved for the top of the line cars, and only for those that can afford the extra safety features.

With the ever of increasing distractions this technology of lane change notification and lane change prevention technology, adaptive cruise control, auto 911 accident calls, talking GPS, extensive air bags, and so many more features that have yet to be created. One would think that Governments would increasingly change the laws to require all new cars to have these safety features.

When the government regulated mandatory seatbelts, there was great debate over whether or not it would save lives. When they created the airbag, there were Conversation over if it would save lives or hurt or kill people.

The Idea that this technology should be allowed to be a sales feature and not mandated by law to save lives is a something that needs to be dealt with. When we look at the history of seat belts, and air bags and how that got legislated, and the automakers and lobbyists went to town to try to shoot it down, that failed.

With distracted driving having moved past drunk driving due to the number of apps and devices in people’s cars and trucks, it seems to me we need to have more of a glass cockpit.  Fewer buttons will be the wave of the future. Auto Drive or auto assist and auto breaking to prevent crashes would be standard features instead of just for those that can afford them.

Why do we have keys when you can have a proximity auto lock where your key fob has to be in proximity of the car?  Why do we have a wiper and lights buttons or sticks on the columns? Why do we need seat warmer buttons? Why do we need buttons at all when you can have two computer screens in the car. One Touch screen, and one standard LCD screen or maybe a heads up display. Voice activation to enable cooling, heating, radio, wipers, lights, and most other buttons, nobs, and levers and control arms. Is there a need to really have a gear shifter in the cars these days? That can be done by voice activation as well. The emergency break could also have that lever removed. That is one technology that has not been upgraded in most cars.

The Glass cockpit is the future. Insurance Companies should be all for having all these features being mandatory in vehicles, as that would mean they can pay out fewer claims and make money. Safety is the primary reason to take driving control away from drivers. Drunk driving would be eliminated if we had cars with an auto drive.

By making all these advances mandatory we can move people with more efficiency. Currently part of the issue with people driving cars is they make errors in judgments, causing crashes and slowing down road ways.

The biggest issues the government has right now is trying to pass common sense laws that make sense. The lack of common sense being dealt with by all federal governments is why this technology is sold as an add-on item for the rich.

The people must demand things of their law makers and demand they listen or hold them accountable. Demanding that all the safety features are put on all models of cars instead of just the elite make of that model of car or truck. Safety should not be a choice of the rich. It should be a requirement by law.

Social Media Revolution of Politics

by MJ | May 4, 2017 | Politics | 0 comments

The Danger of the internet is something the political parties are not catching on to. They fail to understand the internet has created informed voters, more information to make a decision. More and more discussion is happening discussing a person’s behavior and morals and their choices in elected office, to determine if this is the candidate I want to be elected.

What political parties don’t understand is there are so many Facebook groups and pages discussing their every move and decision and being judged on it, that this has changed the power of a voter from a regular voter, to a super voter that can swing people and create pockets and groups to vote for a certain set of people.

This also amplifies further based on websites writing commentary where people discuss the commentary in the comments section and people find out more information from other people than from Candidates.

Now former classmates come forward to talk about how the candidate behaved in school, or if they got into a fight or was a bully. Or if they were a pretty academic through high school.

Facebook with almost 2 billion users, which counts in at one-quarter of the world’s population is on Facebook. The power to create a movement or swing the public’s opinion has never had such power.

Within that almost 2 billion users, there are factions and groups, but sometimes things cross all groups and make a wave.

Politics has not caught up, politicians post things to social media, but rarely do they ever interact with people. When they do it will be captured on video and you will get crucified.

With a cell phone, you become a reporter. You are able to capture that off the cuff moment where a politician talks out of turn and you can post it online to Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook and change the discussion about someone to positive or negative.

Politicians still seem to forget nowadays everything is recorded. Even from within your own group of people and staff. If you go off on someone for something, someone might record it and post it online.

Many Politicians have not been able to fully embrace the power of technology because they do not have control of it. Politicians want to control the narrative, and when they lose control and can not get it back, they lose elections.

In Alberta 2015 election the angst against the Federal Conservatives played out against the provincial Conservatives. Continuous self-serving policies were part of the issues, however, the double tap that happened to the Alberta Conservatives was the split of Conservatives running for the farther right Wild Rose Party. The Provincial Conservatives had been in power for over forty years and with migration patterns of people coming from all over Canada for oil jobs. This changed the underlying vote dynamic. Just months before the election the price of oil dropped by one-third of the price and that also played a factor in the Alberta election. Attitudes Changed towards the Conservatives, that people made a choice for change, and voted NDP.

Let’s look at the 2015 Canadian Election in brief. Stephen Harpers Conservatives entered into the longest election, figuring they could try a US style election with a massive war chest of over 30 Million Dollars. They looked at it as an issue of where the other parties did not have the war chest to fight it out for over a seventy-seven-day election, whereas the minimum required days is twenty-eight.

The fatal mistake that Stephen Harper made was when he went into the election he had already lost the narrative over twelve months ago.

Now here we are in the 2017 British Columbia Election where this plays out again where coming into the election the narrative has already been against Christie Clarke for over 12 months. Problems with Site C Dam, that it has been said we don’t need and is an environmental and financial disaster in the making. Children dying in foster care again and again. The HST was a big disaster that made it difficult for the BC Liberals to continue to do as they please.  Time and again over the past several years the BC Liberals have been hit with scandals, illegalities, and criminal investigations. The BC Liberals are Set to lose the election. At the time of this writing, we are calculating they will be left with 30 seats.

The Power of the Internet to change the course of an election is absolute. Just look at the 2016 US Presidential Election. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, all played a powerful position in sculpting the outcome of that election.

Welcome to the revolution.