Transport past, a priest in Jaffna, 2010.
Traffic sucks. Sitting in traffic just feels completely unnecessary, and that’s the sort of feeling technology evolves to fix. So what will future traffic look like, in Sri Lanka especially?
If you’ve ever been trishaw level with the exhaust-pipe of a Colombo bus, it seems obvious that fossil fuels have to go. The problem, however, is that electric cars have less range and still cost much more than petrol or diesel models. One quirk in Sri Lanka, however, is that our taxes on cars are so high (100-300%) that simply reducing the taxes can make hybrid and electric cars cheaper than regular models. Indeed, the government did just that and sales of hybrids spiked.
Hybrids generate their own electricity from the motion of the wheels, which is one thing. The best model, however, is using electric cars, but Sri Lanka has a problem there. As you may have noticed, we’re having power cuts. This is because successive governments have long neglected to build enough power plants, and the new ones we have seem to have been built badly. Sri Lanka actually generates up to 50% of its power from thermal plants, AKA, generators. We burn liquid fuel to make energy. So burning diesel to power electric cars is kinda pointless. But hopefully that will change.
Another big trend globally is driverless cars, pioneered by Google. Google’s driverless cars have completed over 300,000 accident free miles across America and they are lobbying to make them street-legal. The value here is that the average car is only driven for a few hours a day. The rest of the time it’s just sitting around, taking up valuable real estate. If the car is driverless, it can drop someone off at work and then be used by someone else, by someone in the family or even as a cab. That would mean less cars, less traffic, and more efficient travel.
In Sri Lanka, however, we have enough cheap labor that a driverless car may not be a significant savings. Hopefully wages will go up to the point that robots can compete.
What about not going anywhere at all? Video-conferencing sucks, but new technologies like the Double Robot are pushing the limits of what’s possible. This simple device is essentially a stick on wheels with an iPad on the top. You can remotely connect to the robot and control it, moving up and down and around a room. This means you can work the room at a conference, shop remotely, or tour a factory floor. You could inspect a garment factory in Ratmalana from New York, or tour a gallery in New York from Ratmalana. It’s rather at expensive at $2,000, but this is technology available now. If, perhaps, in the future we could control more sophisticated robots or stuffed animals, videoconferencing might become less of a chore and more of a game.
This is the most extreme change imagined, but it was also imagined decades ago, by an honorary Sri Lankan, for Sri Lankan. Arthur C. Clarke, who predicted the modern communications satellite, also predicted the space elevator. This is a tube that goes from the earth (at a spot near the equator) up to space. This would take the cost of going to space from the current $16,700/kg to a more affordable $100 per. Which would be revolutionary.
This system would work much like a tetherball. The rotation of the earth would keep a counterweight in space strung tight. You could even imagine the thing hanging down from space rather than a tower going up. We currently have the science to build one on the earth, and the projected cost at $10-50 billion is about what the International Space Station cost.
This is interesting for Sri Lanka because, as a country close to the equator, we’re an ideal spot to build such an awesome idea. Forget catching up in terms of ports and airports, this is a spaceport.
So, as you’re sitting in traffic, think it over. We could soon be in a future of driverless, electric cars for the travel we need to do, remote-controlled robots for mundane tasks, and affordable space travel on long weekends.
I will tell you what the future of traffic in Sri Lanka. Like this: http://tomorrowspaper.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/traffic-jam.jpg?w=487
Oh God
I think electric public transport should be the first step — buses and trains, even planes and ships — not just in SL but everywhere. Public transport is centrally controlled, unlike a family car, and recharging etc can be done more efficiently. Selling electric cars to the public is just pointlessly slow and unlikely.
I would die of claustrophobia if I had to sit in that kind of traffic for long.
I don’t think you guys have any idea of the status of this country. We are a very backward ‘society’. In fact there is no such thing as “society” in this shith0le of a country. This was confirmed by none other than our very own Dr. Tudor Weerasinghe of the Dept of Mass Media @ UOC, who said in a recent TV discussion program that Sri Lanka is still trying to develop a “society”. It is still in between a primitive barbaric state (in his own words “ashista”) and a state of a true society. We cannot think of a “future” of transport in this country when drivers don’t obey basic road rules, have absolutely no idea of what “personal space” is (we tailgate very often not knowing we have to keep a safe distance between 2 vehicles, even when we are not moving as in a traffic jam), and cannot even drive straight.
Yep, and if we can change people’s attitudes, it would be the perfect get out of jail free card for people who can’t buy cars but want to get married.
When I mean we cannot drive straight, what I mean is, we cannot stick to a lane. We drive between 2 lanes. The fact that we cannot obey such a basic rule means that there is something wrong (or lacking) in our brains. This is quite true in non-vehicular situations also. I mean, majority of Sri Lankans don’t have the concept of a queue. How many time have we seen people jumping queues. We ARE primitive. No doubt about it.
We are primitive because the powers that be want us to be primitive so that they can stay in power. Successive govts bullshitting the people and all that…
This is nothing to do with primitiveness. Our fathers and grandfathers drove and obeyed the road rules. Are you saying that the societies of the ’50s and ’60s were also primitive but miraculously capable of driving properly? I don’t think so. If you compare driving styles now and fifteen years ago — when I started having my own car — you can still see a decline. What is actually the case is that our society is more prepared to ignore the laws today than they did a decade or a generation ago. The only thing to get a driver to obey the law is the presence of a cop. So it is not the law they obey; they are simply avoiding punishment. They take their cue from the leadership which also ignores the law. “If they can, why can’t we?”
” Our fathers and grandfathers drove and obeyed the road rules.” – says David Blacker
I don’t think so. Since there were very few cars on the road those days, very much less vehicles, there were less accidents. That is all. Our fathers and grandfathers were just as reckless as the assholes we get now.
50s and 60s people were also primitive. The could not drive properly as well. It is these people who have been power since the 80s and 90s. They could not develop the country as well.
People just don’t, overnight, decide to disobey laws. Things like this are basically inherent. It’s genetic. If you read Robert Noks, you will see that Sri Lankans had a habit of bribing even in the 17th century. Noks says you can bribe and get even the Adigars (Chief justices at the time) to favor you. Noks also says that the Sri Lankans had no problem in telling lies. Telling lies he says was nothing to the Sinhalese. These types of behavior cannot change overnight. These things take generations and then it is basically in your genes.
Sri Lankan by nature DON’T want to obey laws. It’s in our genes. Maybe it’s the oppression of the kings of not letting anybody do anything he does not wish or the caste system (another form of oppression).
During the 50s and 60s, only the richest rich actually had automobiles. Usually, economically well-off, educated people are more disciplined. You won’t often see even Maruti cars violating road rules. On the other hand, I bet road rules are mostly violated by Three-Wheelers and motorcycles, and buses.
There’s no decline. It’s about economic prosperity. Just like economically underdeveloped countries are more religious, economically underdeveloped countries are less disciplined, and lower classes are less disciplined. When you have a life to live, you’d not want to control women, or waste time with policemen.
Rodney, it’s not about the number of accidents. It’s about obeying the law. And not just the traffic laws. People were far more law abiding. I know how my father rode his motorcycle, and I see how people ride bikes today. There’s a huge difference. You can see the difference just from ten years ago. No one said that people decide to break the rules overnight.If you actually read my response maybe you’d have got that. It has got worse year by year. My point was that your theory about primitiveness is pretty primitive.
Your Father may be the exception, but the general rule is that we are primitive. Are you saying we are a DEVELOPED country??? Were we a DEVELOPED COUNTRY in the 50s and 60s??
IF not then we have to be primitive, undeveloped country, right?? That is the only 2 states possible, right?? you can be developed or not developed (i.e. primitive). There can’t be a middle ground here, right?
Rodney, did you mean Robert Knox?
Underdeveloped refers to an economic status, Rodney, not the mindset of people. SL was almost 100% literate in the ’70s, when not even the UK could boast that. Would you call the UK underdeveloped or primitive? :D My father was NOT the exception. Perhaps you were refering to your grandfather when you said he drove like an arsehole, but the average person didn’t do so.
SL was almost 100% literate in the ’70s– Bullshit. Care to show us some statistics on this. Literacy has improved, not declined. You are clearly retarded just as the 99% of sri lankans. And NO, underdeveloped means “mindset”. People with low economic status will obviously have a Underdeveloped mindset. And 70% is quite Ok for literacy. You don’t need everybody to know to read and right. But you are quite wrong about UK. Where is your source???
Are you saying people in poor countries have a “developed mindset”??? That is complete bullshit. Everything is related Blacker. Are you saying poor in Sri Lanka have developed mindset???? So according to you there is no difference between rich and poor countries in terms of mindset??? So Americans and Sri Lankans are at the same level “mindset” although we are economically poles apart???
It’s obvious you are eating too much lumpries Blacker.
You are wrong about road rules violated by most by three wheelers. How many luxury car drivers stop at a pedestrian crossing, cross a single line or double line, sticks to the lane, stick to the speed limits??? Virtually NONE. It has nothing to do with wealth. Even the rich do NOT OBEY the rules?? How many times have you seen drivers of luxury vehicles arguing with police officers incapable of accepting that they did a mistake???
Sri Lankan behavior hs nothing to do with rich / poor. Both segments behave the same. In fact in this country, it is rich who do most of the crime (while collar) and get away with it. It is clearly genetic. Environment has nothing to do with it.
You are however right about “economically underdeveloped countries are less disciplined”. So we have been an economically underdeveloped country since 1948. So we have to be less disciplined all along.
Blacker, you are a fraud. You spew statistics out your mouth just to win arguments. “.
SL was almost 100% literate in the ’70s” ???? Fuck off moron.
Here are the statistics from none other than STATISTICS.GOV.LK
Table 2.1 – Literacy rate by sector and sex
1963 – 77%
1981 – 87.2%
1990 – 86.6%
2001 – 90.7%
Source: http://www.statistics.gov.lk/social/social%20conditions.pdf
Now, go eat the lumprie packet like a good boy!!!
Rodney,
I would say luxury cars violate the road rules far less often than three-wheelers, buses or motorcycles, though this is in part due to the obvious fact that luxury cars are rare. That’s why I took Maruti for my argument. I think you’d agree if we consider prior probabilities, you are more likely to get verbally abused by a three-wheeler driver than by a Maruti car driver. If you accidentally kill someone, you are more likely to get beaten and car burned by lowly creatures in the society than by some office workers.
It’s hardly genetic either. Humans usually easily submit to authority. I would describe Stanley Milgram’s social paychology experiment if I have to. Basically, our ancestors could not have survived if they didn’t submit to authority. Those who did got killed before they could reproduce. Those of us who survived easily submit to authority. Those who defy authority do it after tremendous internal struggle.
So if we had strict laws that are vigorously enforced, we won’t have this problem. If making sure that road rules are obeyed is all you care about, you can easily achieve it by making violations of road rules punishable by death, and actually go through with it and kill every single idiot who stops the vehicle on a zebra crossing. Have no doubts. It’ll work.
By the way, remember the seat-belt rule? People actually obeyed it when it was actually enforced, even the bus drivers. But when it is not properly enforced, like now, you are more likely to find a gentleman driving a Hybrid wearing a seat-belt than a TATA bus driver wearing one
“You don’t need everybody to know to read and right.”
Lol, looks like literacy hasn’t reached your neck of the woods yet. And what is a “lumprie”???
So you agree that 70% is OK for literacy? So how can you say that that’s primitive? Lol.
And no, underdeveloped isn’t talking about a mindset. If it were you’d be pretty underdeveloped yourself, Rodney. What is your criteria for a developed mindset, and what is your source for saying that underdeveloped refers not to economy?
Your seat belt examples is enough to show that it is genetic and has nothing to do with obeying the law. Ok, seat belt law only applies to English numbers, right. So, according you your theory, if people obeyed only if laws are enforced, then foreigners who drive non-english numbers cars should, according to you, NOT wear a seat belt. Cos, you cannot get copped. BUT, they DO wear seat belts even while driving a non-english numbered cars, while our people don’t. For the Foreigner it is not about obeying the LAW and whether the law is enforced, it is about doing the RIGHT THING. It’s about safety. Our people knowingly (yes, they KNOW wearing seat-belts will save you) don’t wear seat belts when driving a non-english numbered car. Why is this??? It’s clearly, genetic. It shows our privimitiveness, in our lack of understanding of safety and technology.
After a few years’ driving in Sri Lanka, I’d say that a noticeable minority are ok drivers: they demonstrate reasonable awareness of their surroundings and have a small degree of manners. By far the majority drive poorly, both in terms of dangerous practices and poor manners. Of these poor drivers, most of the cheaper vehicles are driven poorly by people who seem clueless, many of the expensive vehicles by people who just don’t give a damn about anyone else.
I rather suspect that genetics has nothing much to do with it. Sri Lankan drivers I know in places like the UK seem curiously able to drive safely and politely. Nor do I think that enforcement itself is the main problem. I’ve driven in many countries where the general road manners are pretty good despite there being far fewer visible traffic cops than in Sri Lanka, enforcement via speed cameras for the most part. Enforcement problems in this country are many, particularly the easy ticketing that happens (speeding on straight stretches out of town, hiding by single white lines, waiting by no U-turn areas etc) rather than following and arresting poor drivers per se; their poor training, minimal experience of driving and the corruption being the main reasons.
No, the main problem is that everyone does it. It’s a societal issue, an education issue and a manners issue. No one is embarrassed or shamed by poor driving. An idiot straying over two lanes is nearly as dangerous as a prick in a Landcruiser hustling you with flashing lights from behind, and no-one seems to care.
Onto the thrust of this post, though, electric cars are a stupid idea. They have a tiny range, take ages to charge, the batteries only last 5-10 years and are not environmentally friendly by any means. Fine for a rich person who needs a city runabout, not very good for anyone else. No, as private transport goes, hydrogen cell cars are the future, whether they directly run on hydrogen or use the cell as a generator to run electric motors. They emit only water (admittedly a greenhouse gas conveniently forgotten by eco-mentalists), the existing fuel station network can be utilised, you can fill up in minutes and they have similar performance and range to petrol engines. All we need is large scale production of liquid hydrogen, which is easier to do in geographical regions with a lot of rainfall…
Rodney,
I can predict someone saying So I suppose you have done a pretty good study about foreigners who drive non-English numbered cars wearing seat-belts? At least you’d be able to tell me how many non-English numbered cars are driven by foreigners per day on average?
But then, I’m not one of those people. We can’t decide everything based on studies. But you are not even addressing anything I said. You simply didn’t address my claim that you are more likely to find a gentleman driving a hybrid wearing a seat-belt than find a bus driver wearing a seat-belt. Do you deny this? You simply didn’t address my claim that if you accidentally killed someone, you are more likely to get beaten by some lowly creatures than by a bunch of office workers. Do you deny this?
What you are saying, without addressing any of the above, is also flawed. I’d bet that when you say foreigners, you are actually thinking about a Caucasian man, or a woman, who has earned enough money to travel the world, driving a car that is definitely not a Maruti. More than being white or foreign, his/her obeying laws can be explained by the fact that he’s not a penniless, inbreeding, gun-cling, bible-thumping American redneck.
And please, don’t try your hand at evolutionary psychology unless you’ve at least read people like Wilson, Hamilton, George Williams and John Meynard Smith.
I have seen plent of foreigners driving non-english number plated cars wearing seat belts. Do you have any stuides to show that poor people cause more accidents and are worse drivers than people who drive cars???
” You simply didn’t address my claim that you are more likely to find a gentleman driving a hybrid wearing a seat-belt than find a bus driver wearing a seat-belt.” – Not really. Most buses don’t have seat belts. So how can they wear them????
If enforement is the key, then why does sweden has on of the lowest accident rates in the world and US has one of the highest??? Both are countries where laws are enforced strictly. But the US has many folds accidents (per capita) than sweden. You know why??? Because of Blacks. Blacks cause more accidents maney times more than their population % than Whites. So that is why there are so many more accidents (per capita) in the US than in Sweden. So it’s clearly genetic.
Are you saying that Sri Lankans are equal to Europeans in intellectual capaticy and mental development???
“Do you have any stuides to show that poor people cause more accidents and are worse drivers than people who drive cars???”
You mean the poor people in bullock carts who don’t drive cars? :D
“Are you saying that Sri Lankans are equal to Europeans in intellectual capaticy and mental development???”
No, Rodney, you’re clearly not equal to anyone on this planet.
Don’t worry, that would never happen in SL. Just look at that pick. You can fit at least 4 three wheelers and 2 bikes around each car in there.
I have seen plent of foreigners driving non-english number plated cars wearing seat belts. Do you have any stuides to show that poor people cause more accidents and are worse drivers than people who drive cars???
I never asked you to cite a study to support your claim that foreigners driving non-English number plated cars wear seat belts. You made that claim without citing any study to support it, and I didn’t even ask you for one, and yet you moronically ask me to cite a study that measured the correlation between income and accidents? Seriously, are you high or something?
Not really. Most buses don’t have seat belts. So how can they wear them????
The seat belt law was imposed only on certain models of buses; buses that actually have seat belts. If you carefully observe, you’d see that most new buses actually have seat belts. I would say if you count only the buses that actually have seat belts, you are still more likely to find a gentleman driving a hybrid wearing his seat belt than a bus driver, whose bus actually has a seat belt, wearing the seat belt. Don’t you think so?
If enforement is the key, then why does sweden has on of the lowest accident rates in the world and US has one of the highest??? Both are countries where laws are enforced strictly. But the US has many folds accidents (per capita) than sweden. You know why??? Because of Blacks.
Suppose this is true. Now explain to me the following data:
USA
Road Fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year = 12.3
Road Fatalities per 100,000 motor vehicles = 15
Russia
Road Fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year = 18.5
Road Fatalities per 100,000 motor vehicles = 55.3
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate
Are there a millions of blacks in Russia, secretly driving motor vehicles?
If you still don’t see the pattern, I’m going to put you in the category of morons who comment on this blog. It’s a distinguished club really, which includes dodo, realist and shammi.
Are you saying that Sri Lankans are equal to Europeans in intellectual capaticy and mental development??
Never made such a claim. But again, don’t make claims related to evolutionary psychology without first reading Hamilton, Williams, Smith or Wilson. Such elaborate theories are not needed when there’s the obvious fact that Russia has higher accident rates than USA even though virtually all of them are white. If you try to do that, you’d be stumped by the following data, and conclude that Chinese have higher intellectual capacity and mental development than the Russians, whether it is true or not.
China
Road Fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year = 5.1
Road Fatalities per 100,000 motor vehicles = 36
Russians have higher rate most probably due to the millions of various ethnic minorities in that country in the fringe states. Only 80% of Russians are White. 20% are minority races. Chinese have average IQ of 100. So they are as equal to Europeans in IQ. That could explain their low rate of accidents.
Rodney,
I just added you to the Morons Club, for not accepting it when your worldview has been completely demolished by me. (others, this is how it looks to outsiders when I completely ruin your beliefs and ideas).
You claimed the reason US more accidents per capita than Sweden was because of the blacks. I showed you that Russia has a much higher accident rate, even though there aren’t many blacks. Your response to this is, it is because 20% of Russians are ethnic minorities, only 80% white.
Two obvious questions arise. First one is this. Only 72% of US population is white,( source: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States ) which is less than 80%, which is the case in Russia according to you. So how come US has a much lower accident rate, even though its minority percentage is higher than Russia?
The second question is this. You blamed the higher US accident rate on blacks, who constitute 13% of the US population. Now I’d suppose that Russian black population is much lower than 13% of Russian population. I also showed you that China, which is non-white, yet multi-ethnic country, has a lower accident rate than Russia. So how cone this 20% of the Russian ethnic (non-black) minority share more common features with blacks, and not much with most ethnic groups in China? Do the those Russian non-Black 20% of minority share a common ancestor with blacks, who is not an ancestor of the Chinese?
Again, I have put you in the category of morons. A basic rule of making hypotheses is that before you make predictions, you must explain the already available data. Your hypothesis is erroneous as a simple matter of fact. You are a moron not to see it when you have been clearly shown how retarded it is.
Wrong analogy. Isn”t getting married over here literally referred to as going directly to jail? “hirayak gannawa”. No passing GO. No collecting 200 pounds.
Thanks for making it clear as to why you are an eminent member of the Morons Club.
Get out of jail free card is not an analogy. It’s a metaphor, and totally correct in this scenario.
Thanks for making it clear as to why you are an eminent member of the Morons Club.
Get out of jail free card is not an analogy. It’s a metaphor, and totally correct in this scenario..
Thanks for being so predictable.
I say your metaphor is based on the wrong analogy and that you, as usual, are as silly as a similie.
Predictability is a side effect of being consistent. One can easily predict me to be right the next time we talk, just like now, and one can easily predict you to be wrong the next time we talk, and utter nonsense like metaphors being based on analogies to cover the embarrassment, just like now.
Get lost you dark skin dickhead. Who cares what dark skinned Sri Lankans think. In Australia, the ausses call you turdskins. You know what a “turd” is??? All you dark skinned sh1tskins are inferior turd midgets. You look like monkeys with sharp facial features (like monkeys) . That is why your country is sh1thole. The dark skinned simian will always be inferior.
PS: I don’t have mud colored skin like you sh1thead.
Yeah, one could easily predict you to be amusingly anal, every time, and provide good sport on a boring day, just like Heshan did.
Why should I be embarassed regarding some alien tongue? It’s you, who tries to portray yourself as an an all knowing ESE, who should to be embarassed because you didn’t know that metaphors are culture specific, and cannot be applied universally. Nine out of ten ordinary Sri Lankan married men consider wedlock to be a prison.
This Heshan guy must have seriously raped you and dodo. It’s amusing that you cannot seem to talk about anything without mentioning Heshan. Hah. Ese is a pretty filthy word by the way. Where did you learn it? Do you go around calling people nigga and dog? Or is this simply a filthy word that you just made up to mean something more innocent, but since you don’t know anything about anything, you never considered there might be a real word that is really filthy?
Metaphors are culture specific? “Get out of jail free card” means pretty much nothing if you take it outside its Monopoly reference. It doesn’t have a different use in any Sri Lankan subculture. Even the word “card” is a new concept for Sinhalese people. So when someone says “Get out of jail free card”, it pretty much means only one thing. There’s no way one could mistake it for something else, unless she’s a moron.
PS: I don’t have mud colored skin like you sh1thead.
Not very sure about this. Do you inferior turds, who think they are not inferior turds, always lose arguments like this?
And oh, none of that changes the fact that you initially thought it was an anology. That’s just plain dumb.
And oh, none of that changes the fact that you initially thought it was an anology. That’s just plain dumb..
There can be absolutely no doubt that any admirer of Heshan was the dumbest kind of person.
I used the term ESE just to check if you really were Hehan, who would have recognised it. I have to conclude that you’re only his identical twin who was separated at some point. Perhaps you mother gave you away for adoption when you told her that she was inferior to you in every way becaue she was female. You would make an ideal statistic in support of your “nature is more powerful than culture” argument because there seems to be little difference between you and Heshan still.
For your information a ESE is a term coined by Indi to describe the English speaking Elite of Colombo, and is currently being considered for inclusion in the Oxford Dictionary. I feel that the term better describes some Sri Lankans like you who think they’re special just because they speak English.
Yes, there’s a definite cultural aspect to metaphors. My point was that getting out of jail free seems not to be the best metaphor to describe getting married, in cultures where marriage is referred to as “wedlock” or “hiraya”.