Driving in (Dutch) Style

We spent the weekend in The Netherlands, and although the Dutch are big on bicycles, I spent a lot of time thinking and talking about cars.

 
The couple we hung out with on Saturday drove us to a traditional Dutch pancake house. We made the journey in their hybrid BMW, a car that’s been outfitted to the teeth with every new technology available: cameras all over the place, a high-tech touch screen that can give you a bird’s eye view of your car (as well as views from every possible angle), headlights that adapt to traffic (high beams that move to the side if there’s a car in front of you, or that turn off the left high beam if there’s a car approaching in oncoming traffic, etc), sensors of all kinds, a self-parking feature, and more. There’s even a digital display that projects the maximum speed allowed on the road and your current driving speed onto the windshield in front of the driver. This car can basically drive itself—and it’s half electric, so it’s energy efficient to boot! When we returned home after dinner, I watched him attach his car to a charging station with a long cable. A blue light blinked to indicate that it was charging, and voila! Magic.
 
I do appreciate the environmental aspect of this car, and I wish it was more affordable to own an energy efficient vehicle. But every time I’m in a souped-up car like this, I can’t help but wonder: how necessary are all of these gadgets? And do they distract more than help the driver at the wheel? As our friend was backing out of a parking spot and engaging with traffic on the road, the screen flickered with different viewpoints from the various cameras pointing every direction. My car, a 16-year-old Toyota Rav 4, has no such features, but somehow, I manage to park my car in tiny spaces and back up into oncoming traffic. But I have had the experience of driving rental cars outfitted with cameras and screens, and in my experience, I’ve grown so used to them that I come to rely on them very quickly. Then, when I go back to driving my own car, I’ve got to adjust to using my own eyes and intuition again instead of relying on the eyes and brain of the car’s computer systems.
 
The next day, Norbert and I hung out with a couple living in Haarlem, a very cute town near Amsterdam. They had a surprise for us: a ride in a refurbished Old Timer Volvo from the 1960’s through the Dutch countryside to a car museum near The Hague.

What a difference, driving in this bare bones vehicle, compared with the state of the art Beemer from the day before. “No seatbelts back here?” I asked our driver as I slid into the back seat. “Nope,” he said cheerily. “But don’t worry,” Norbert added. “There are airbags.” The four of us laughed. Sure, if by “airbags” you were referring to the fresh air filling the car from the open windows!
 
As our driver backed up into a parking space, I joked about where the touchscreen screen was hiding. Was it going to pop out of the dashboard?
 
At the Louwman’s Museum, we walked through the history of the automobile, beginning with horse-drawn carriages and ending with the Prius. The museum has an impressive collection of cars from all over the world, starting with some of the very first designs over a century and a half ago!

I was surprised to learn that cars haven’t always been petroleum powered. In the very beginning, early car models were powered by steam and electricity, but petroleum won out in the end. I mused to my friend: What if we hadn’t given up on steam or electricity? What would our world look like now in terms of environmental damage? Of course, cars aren’t the only polluters of our day, but they’re a major source of greenhouse gases, and it’s a problem that we haven’t come close to solving. Personal vehicle ownership continues to be on the rise, especially as countries like China and India get wealthier.
 
I love the diversity of transportation options in Europe. Although many people own a car, there are plenty of other ways to displace yourself. My friend that I’m visiting in Haarlem is originally from Miami and we were bemoaning our hometown’s lack of transportation options. Walking and biking is barely an option because the streets of Miami are simply not made for pedestrians. In Europe, there are separate bike highways and forested walking paths to get around town. The infrastructure of these towns makes alternative transportation safer, but also enjoyable.

 
Norbert’s stepdaughter’s child just started school, which is celebrated in Germany with much fanfare. Starting school indicates the beginning of a more independent existence, not only because you spend more hours away from your mother’s care, but also because most six-year-olds are expected to get themselves to school. Norbert explained to me that, in Germany, this is an important step for their smallest citizens. They are now active participants in daily traffic, and that comes with responsibility.
 
All of this makes me think of my father who spent his career as a sailboat captain. Whenever we were making a long trip on the sailboat, I always had to keep watch for a few hours in the middle of the night just like the rest of the crew. Norbert, who also has a lot of experience sailing with my dad, and I joke about my father’s strict rules. He forbid his crewmembers to use the autopilot, which annoyed us back then. But now we realize his rationale. With a computer doing the work, one could get lazy, maybe even fall asleep, which could result in a deadly crash with another boat. But without allowing us to use technology as a crutch, my father was ensuring that we paid attention to our surroundings—potentially avoiding tragedy.
 
Technology can make things easier for us, but is that always the best option? If we rely on the screens and cameras in our car, will we make the effort to look ourselves? Or will we simply trust the machines?