Photo by: Danny Bowman
Dean and Holly drove to Hendricks Hill for some hiking and nature-time.
Dean stopped the car to show off. “Look! My new HUD shows direction, speed, altitude!”
“Uh huh,” said Holly.
He took a pic of Hendricks Hill and displayed it on the windshield. “Look!”
“Wow! It looks lifelike.”
Dean became distracted with his hi-tech watch which still displayed only in Chinese, then set off. After twenty minutes Holly looked up from her book. “Aren’t we there yet?”
Dean stopped and stepped out. They’d nearly run into the hill!
“Oops!”
“What happened?”
“Forgot to turn off the picture on the windscreen.”
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Written for the Friday Fictioneers: https://rochellewisoff.com/2017/09/06/8-september-2017/
Author’s Notes:
Just in case anyone is unfamiliar: HUD = Heads Up Display. A system that displays information on the windscreen of an aircraft or car. This way, pilots/drivers need not look away from where they’re going. From Wiki: “…is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view information with the head positioned “up” and looking forward, instead of angled down looking at lower instruments. A HUD also has the advantage that the pilot’s eyes do not need to refocus to view the outside after looking at the optically nearer instruments.”
EagleAye
Momus News 
Good one! I recently saw the HUD in my friends car (or rather on her drivers side windscreen). Somehow it seems distracting to me, as your story points out too!
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Thank you! Yeah, I’ve heard some cars have this now. Though I doubt it projects life-like pictures just yet. That’ll come when cars drive themselves, I expect. 😉
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Well that could be a problem. Sometimes the old school is the best school
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Hehe. Distracting things aren’t necessarily so good when directing a multi-vehicle. 😉
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Lol! Some people don’t deserve such toys. Good one, EA. Loved the humor.
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Yeah, the idea is to make technology your servant, not the other way around. 😉 Glad you enjoyed this one. Thanks much! 🙂
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Giggles… funny! I can see a particular motherinlaw being dumb enough to do just that. Seriously. She had an accident looking down at the backing camera feed while she had the car in drive…not fooling.
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Haha! I can see it. I’ll bet she’s not the only one who’s done that too. Sometimes people get a little too fixated on cool gizmos. 😉 Thanks so much!
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I saw a techie thingy about HUD on TV just a couple of weeks ago. My first thought was it could be very distracting, even though it was transparent and you could still see through the windscreen. Even with a transparent map, you could still stuff up – Deanie boy proved that. LOL another good story off the beaten track, Eric 😀
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I think it would take some getting used to. Ultimately, I think it’ll be a good thing because folks will keep their attention on the road where it should be. Still, if things get too fancy (folks reading the news on their windscreen…while driving) then yeah, it could be a problem. Glad you enjoyed this Lyn. Thank you much! 🙂
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I’m going to quote Rochelle on this one. It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. You may supposedly be looking at the road ahead, but if you’re rather seeing the display on the windscreen, trouble awaits.
Just for interest sake my FF story ” Cousin Eric’s Burger” was posted on “The Drabble yesterday. ☺
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Yep. People are so easily distracted. Sometimes a technology that’s intended to help ( cell phones for instance ) can be a problem when people misuse them (driving while texting on the cell phone).
That’s awesome about that story. You’re published! Woohoo. 🙂
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And even more! My book Silver Morning Song just went live on Amazon today. I’m really excited about that! 🙂
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Oh, that’s awesome. Congratulations! Way to go!
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Boys and there toys. Gotta love them.
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Hehe. Some things never change, right? 😉
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Seems to me like there’s a safety feature missing from this new toy, hm… Or maybe this is the next wave of Darwin Awards waiting to happen? 🙂
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Haha! Yes, Darwin Awards. This is just another way to cull the weak out of the gene pool. They just got lucky there weren’t any cliffs around. 😉 Thanks Joy!
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Yeah, almost driving into a mountain is bad enough!
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Dear Eric,
One has to wonder if new technology is always better. In this case perhaps not so much. Good one.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Yep. It isn’t always an improvement. But then, who’s fault is it? That varies, I notice. Is it an inherent flaw in the tech, or is it the user? We’ve had fire for thousands of years and people are “still” mishandling it. 😉 Thanks Rochelle!
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Progress brings endless opportunities to distract ourselves, I guess! Well done.
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It certainly does. And now people are texting while walking, and walking into traffic! Useful technologies are always dangerous. They capture our attention so much. 😉 Thanks kindly! 🙂
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Technology is taking over our lives. I sometimes wish we could take a step or two back!
Click to read my FriFic
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Totally understand that. Getting back to nature once in a while can help. Thanks much! 🙂
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I know a few technology addicts who would love to have HUD. Personally, I’m easily enough distracted without any high-tech assistance. 🙂
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Haha! Same here. I even don’t like those dangly things hanging from the rear view mirror. They constantly grab my attention. 😉
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Haha!! Fantastic! My new car has lane drifting sensors and back-up sensors and side sensors and tire pressure sensors and a bossy GPS. Backing out of a parking spot at the grocery store sets off alarms and whistles and bells and I slam on the brakes only to find that a sensor is howling about a tree 8 feet away. I can totally relate to your guy. Great story EagleAye. :o)
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Haha! Do you remember those voices that told you your door was open? I think the verdict on those was universal. They aren’t in use anymore. I had a GPS once that got pretty mad at me. “U-turn! U-turn now, you moron!” 😉 Glad you enjoyed the story. Thanks very much!
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My Father-In-Law had a car like that. We wanted to change the voice to his wife’s voice – she was….what would you call it? Strident? Yes, strident is the perfect word! We never figured out how, unfortunately, but it would have been epic if we had. :o)
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Haha! “Strident” sounds like a “diplomatic” way of putting it. 😉
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Pretty funny. Could have ended in a disaster–glad he stopped in time 🙂
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Me too. Glad you had fun. Thanks much!
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Nice take on the prompt, I so focused on his distraction with his toys I forgot about the display on the windshield. I laughed when I read what happened.
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Good to know that worked. I wanted a reason he forgot to remove the image, something that might also distract the reader. That’s the effect I was looking for. Glad you got a laugh. Thanks very much! 🙂
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Art imitating reality and could happen sooner than we think. The Tesla driver who made history as the first man to die at the wheel of a semi-autonomous vehicle apparently had his hands on the wheel for just 25 seconds in a 37-minute driving period.
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True enough. Big changes are coming, but humans still need to monitor things and be smart. I was reading an article about the Tesla you mentioned. It said, “Semi-autonomous features have proven to improve vehicle safety so long as drivers continue to pay attention when vehicles or other objects suddenly enter their path. As automakers like Tesla continue to push features that give cars limited autonomy, they must also account for the limitations of human drivers.”
Thanks much for commenting! 🙂
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Ha! Too much tech. Good one!
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Thank you kindly! 🙂
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