New Tech Helps With Driving Test
I still remember the day I got my driver’s license. After a year with a learner’s permit driving to and from high school, countless hours driving with my parents, and a frustrating 30 minutes in a technical school parking lot with my brother trying to learn stick (Sorry, Walker), the day finally arrived.
The written test was easy. I studied hard, I needed this license. The driving test was with 3 other potential drivers. When I was up, I drove defensively, checked all my mirrors and passed with flying colors. I was so relieved and proud. I could almost taste the milkshakes I was going to buy after school.
Later in life I learned that as a kid in Kansas I had it easy. Did you know 13 states require parallel parking in the driving test? Kansas is not on the list. It makes sense, a parking lot was never too far away in the Midwest. Now that I live in New York, I have to parallel park a lot more, and I’m getting better. Maybe.
But now the test is going to change. At least in New Jersey. A recent New Jersey law allows drivers taking their road test to use a backup camera and parking sensors. The law was sponsored by state senator Kip Bateman and signed into law by Governor Chris Christie.
The law makes sense. The Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act of 2007 requires all newly manufactured cars to be equipped with a backup camera by May 2016.
“This technology makes driving easier and safer for everyone,” Senator Bateman said on his website. “These cameras and sensors are already in a few cars on the road, but soon, they’ll be a normal part of driving for anyone with a new car. If someone learns how to drive with a camera-equipped car, they should be allowed to use it for their road test.”
The law is not without controversy. A recent 100 person poll by NJ.com showed 63% of the public don’t like the idea. It’s a pretty informal poll, but shows a bit of how people are feeling about the change.
Time will tell if the law will make it to other states, but the influence of new technology in every aspect of the automotive industry is clear. The next generation of drivers will learn with cameras.
