> Humans can drive that fast in such low visibility, but we (often) have enough brains not to.
I think your "(often)" is doing a lot of work in this sentence.
There are many unsafe conditions that don't require an icy road plus fog plus highway speeds: any bad thunderstorm is likely to combine poor visibility and the risk of puddles/hydroplaning, for example. But the highways don't clear out during summer thunderstorms; people seem (from their actions) content to take the risk.
If self-driving cars become common and maintain a high safety standard, I think we'll also need to see a culture shift. People will have to become comfortable saying (and hearing) "the roads aren't safe right now, so I'll not be there on time."
>But the highways don't clear out during summer thunderstorms;
Part of this is that people (and I include myself in this) tend to have a mindset of slow down but power on. (Although in my experience not enough people slow down enough.) But it's often also a reality that pulling over isn't really safe. And, even if you can get to an exit, in the case of something like a snowstorm you may have a long cold night in your car if you decide to wait it out.
>> If self-driving cars become common and maintain a high safety standard, I think we'll also need to see a culture shift.
Good idea. In fact, at the moment self-driving cars aren't anywhere near as safe as humans (even when we forget our brains home) so I think we could benefit from such a "safety culture" tremendously already.
I think your "(often)" is doing a lot of work in this sentence.
There are many unsafe conditions that don't require an icy road plus fog plus highway speeds: any bad thunderstorm is likely to combine poor visibility and the risk of puddles/hydroplaning, for example. But the highways don't clear out during summer thunderstorms; people seem (from their actions) content to take the risk.
If self-driving cars become common and maintain a high safety standard, I think we'll also need to see a culture shift. People will have to become comfortable saying (and hearing) "the roads aren't safe right now, so I'll not be there on time."