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Some think that driverless cars are in our future. Others think that driverless cars are, and should stay, merely a product of science fiction. I believe that driverless cars are not a good idea. Driverless cars are not a good idea for several reasons. The first and most obvious reason is safety. A second reason is the large cost of manufacturing these cars. And finally, a third reason we do not need driverless cars in this day and age, is people would forget how to drive a regular car or neglect to even learn if the car drove itself.

The first reason that society does not need driverless cars is safety. Of course, people can argue that if a car were to drive itself, there would be less accidents. It is true that driverless cars could reduce accidents from drunk driving and other impaired states, or just simple driving errors. However, some of these problems are easy to prevent now. It is illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The simple solution is not to do it. Most crashes caused from simple driving mistakes could be prevented as well. The problem is the driver, not the car. In addition, driverless cars would be at an increased risk for technolgical malfunctions causing potentially fatal crashes. As of right now, the technology in driverless cars is only experimental and theoretical. It would take many years to iron out all the bugs, so to speak, to make these cars function properly all the time. As mentioned paragrpah nine of the article, in most of the Unites States, it is illegal to test drive driverless cars. It is illegal for these very reasons. It is illegal because experimenting with that kind of technology is dangerous.

A second reason that driverless cars are not necessary is the unimaginable cost it would be to manufacture these cars. In addition, millions of dollars would be spent first to research and perfect the workings of the driverless cars. Not to mention, driverless cars would probably cost a larger sum of money than regular cars because of the time and cost of manufacturing them. In the past few years, in the United States has been going through a financial crisis. While our economy is now doing better, where would the money to fund these cars come from? In the article, the author mentions building smarter roads for cars. If that was the case, it would cost even more to fund this grand scheme. So much money is spent on paving and repairing roads every year, it would cost so much more to have to change or rebuild all of the roads in the country. In addition, if cars were to drive themselves, many laws would have to be changed for the new cars. Right now in the United States, one in five children will go hungry, there are clearly more important things to spend money on right now than to fund driverless cars.

A third and final reason that we do not need driverless cars is if we did, people would forget how to drive a regular car, or neglect to even learn. The article mentions that cameras might be needed to ensure people pay attention to the road. There are already enough distractions for drivers to worry about. Texting and driving has become a major issue in recent years. Imagine how easy it would be to be distracted by a phone or other device if the car you were in were driving itself? This is a slippery slope. It starts out with relatively small things, such as not paying full attantion to the road if the car drove itself. But soon, if people did not have to worry about traffic laws and safety, then they would soon forget them. Hypothetically speaking, what if someone who had been driving a driverless for a period of time one day had to go back to driving a regular one. This person may still have their liscense, but would they be able to pass a test for it now? Problems like this would make the road more dangerous than it already is. In addition, that same person who is now driving a regular car, may forget that he or she is controlling the car, being that they were so used to the car driving itself. There is enough reckless driving, that we do not nead people operating vehicles with no memory of how to do it! Or people might even neglect to learn how to drive a regular car at all if they depended on a driverless car all the time. If society allowed this to happen, the results could be catastrophic.

In conclusion, driverless cars are not a good idea. Maybe in the distant future if more problems that we are currently dealing with are resolved, but not at this time. Driverless cars are not currently safe, and will not be for many years to come. They would cost a significant amount of money, money that can be spent elsewhere for better causes, especially when we already have cars that work perfectly fine. Finally, driverless cars are not a good idea because they could cause people to forget how to drive a regular car, which could lead to a very dangerous and potentially deadly situation. There are benefits of driverless cars, however there are even more downfalls to the idea that certainly outweigh the benefits.

Score: 5