Driverless Cars: First Inevitable Tragedy

Woman surfs on phone in driver seat of autonomous vehicle

It was bound to happen and now it has. A 49-year-old woman, Elaine Herzberg, of Tempe, Arizona, was struck and killed by an autonomous, driverless Uber car.

Reacting to the tragedy, Executive Director Jason Levine, of the Center for Auto Safety, an advocacy group based in Washington, said “[The accident] will set consumer confidence in the technology back years if not decades. We need to slow down.”

Is it relevant to point out that Arizona state law requires pedestrians must yield to right-of-way vehicles when not using crosswalks? Maybe so, because Herzfeld was indeed, walking outside the crosswalk.

Still, Chris Zachar, of Zachar Law Firm, a personal injury firm based in Phoenix said, “If the radars on these vehicles are as good as they claim to be, why do you need the presence of a crosswalk?”

Good question.

It seems safe to say that regular old car cars, aren’t going away anytime soon.

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