到底是誰不遵守交通規(guī)則？

Car drivers have it so easy. When I want to signal a turn on my bike (which I always do) I have to take a hand off the handlebars, causing a real loss of control, raise my arm and point, which is changing my centre of balance. It requires some skill and experience.

汽車司機過得很輕松。當我想在我的自行車上發(fā)出轉彎的信號(我總是這樣做)，我必須把手從車把上拿開，造成真正的失控，抬起我的手臂不斷揮動，這改變了我的重心平衡。這需要一些技巧和經(jīng)驗。

The drivers of cars, on the other hand, just have to flick a lever. They can then ignore it, because it pops back on its own. I can’t imagine why they don’t always do it as a matter of course. Yet often, when I am riding my bike, drivers will cut right in front of me to turn, and I don’t know it’s coming because they don’t use their turn signal. When I drive, it seems most people don’t signal before changing lanes.

另一方面，汽車司機只需輕按一下控制桿。然后他們可以不管它，因為它會自己彈回來。我無法想象為什么他們不經(jīng)常這樣做。然而，當我騎自行車的時候，司機經(jīng)常會在我的正前方轉彎，我不知道它會轉彎，因為他們不使用轉向燈。當我開車時，似乎大多數(shù)人在換車道前都不發(fā)信號。

In fact, according to Norman Mayersohn in the New York Times, almost half of drivers don’t bother to signal, and it contributed to 542 crashes last year. He writes:

事實上，據(jù)《紐約時報》的諾曼·邁爾森(Norman Mayersohn)報道，幾乎有一半的司機都懶得打信號，而這也是去年542起撞車事故的原因之一。他寫道:

So what’s the problem here? Why don’t many drivers take this simple safety precaution? When asked about their bad habits in a national study, their explanations seemed confounding. The study by Response Insurance of Meriden, Conn., found that 42 percent of drivers claimed they didn’t have enough time to signal before turning. Nearly a quarter of drivers blamed laziness, while 17 percent said they skipped signaling because they were apt to forget to cancel the blinkers. Worth noting: Men admitted that they were more likely, by 62 percent to 53 percent, to change lanes without signaling.

那么問題在哪里?為什么很多司機不采取這種簡單的安全措施呢?在一項全國性的研究中，當被問及他們的壞習慣時，他們的解釋似乎令人困惑。康涅狄格州梅里登反應保險公司的這項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，42%的司機聲稱他們在轉彎前沒有足夠的時間打信號。近四分之一的司機將此歸咎于懶惰，17%的人說他們不打信號燈是因為他們?nèi)菀淄浫∠盘枱簟Ｖ档米⒁獾氖?62%到53%的男性承認，他們更有可能在不打信號的情況下改變車道。

Mayersohn believes that this raises questions about drivers of regular cars interacting with self-driving cars.

Mayersohn認為，這引發(fā)了關于普通汽車駕駛員與自動駕駛汽車共存的問題。

Would autonomous vehicles equipped with artificial intelligence and hyper-speed computers be able to anticipate the moves of those drivers? How will an autonomous car following all of the rules interact with cars that follow only some?

配備了人工智能和超高速電腦的自動駕駛汽車能夠預測這些司機的動作嗎?遵守所有規(guī)則的自動駕駛汽車將如何與只遵守部分規(guī)則的汽車共存?

And I wondered, why are we talking about interactions with imaginary AVs, when we have more and more people riding bikes every day? Drivers complain all the time that people on bikes don’t follow the rules, while almost half of drivers don’t use their turn signals?

我想知道，當我們有越來越多的人每天騎自行車的時候，為什么我們要談論與想象中的自動駕駛汽車的互動呢?司機們總是抱怨騎自行車的人不遵守規(guī)則，而幾乎一半的司機不使用轉向燈。

Mayersohn says “Failure to signal is an inconsiderate act that makes the roads less safe, causing panic braking, sudden swerves and fender-benders or worse.” When they interact with a person on a bike, the “worse” is probably serious injury or death.

Mayersohn說，不打信號是一種不顧他人安危的行為，會使道路不那么安全，造成急剎車、突然轉向和小車禍，甚至更糟。當他們與騎自行車的人互動時，“更糟”的可能是嚴重受傷或死亡。

But I am still shaking my head over the fact that almost half of drivers regularly break a law that has a big fine and 2 points. It is serious stuff. The next time a driver says “cyclists don’t follow the rules!” that were designed for cars, I will point out how many drivers don’t follow the rules that were designed for cars and that actually make sense for cars. But then yelling at cyclists was never about the rules.

但是，幾乎有一半的司機經(jīng)常違法，而且要被處以高額罰款和2分的事實仍然讓我搖頭。這是很嚴肅的事情。下次有司機說“騎自行車的人不遵守規(guī)則!”“這是為汽車設計的，我要指出有多少司機不遵守為汽車設計的規(guī)則，而這些規(guī)則實際上對汽車是有意義的。但對騎自行車的人大喊大叫從來不是為了規(guī)則。