Because Seattle has a serious and growing traffic problem, and no solutions for it in the near future (the progress of Link light rail is slow, and self-driving cars have yet to leave the realm of science fiction), its commentators and citizens have more and more resorted to accusing bad drivers for making a bad situation worse than it has to be. From KIRO’s Tom and Curley Show:
“If everybody was a really good driver, and by the way, everybody thinks they are a better driver than everybody else, but if everybody stepped up their game somehow, would we be able to cut say 20 minutes out of our commute?” Curley asked.
“I think absolutely,” [said Mike] Lewis, [a local reporter and a bar owner.]
What makes a driver bad? Distraction. Instead of focusing on the wheel and speed of their massive machine—and the others operating massive machines around them, and the signals, marks, and signs that direct and manage the flow of these machines—their mind is elsewhere. Maybe the driver is thinking about their lover, or maybe the driver is trying to figure out why they got dumped for another man or woman, or maybe the driver is unexpectedly recalling something sweet said by someone they saw only once a long time ago in a bar with soft seats and a view of a sea reflecting a clear blue sky. The driver is trying to recall the name of that forgotten person when honking erupts behind them. The driver has failed to notice the light turned green. There is a bit of road rage. A middle finger is delivered from an arm sticking out of a window. This is exactly the problem with this fucking city. It’s got too many distracted drivers.
Of course, this is complete nonsense. There is only one solution to Seattle’s traffic problem and that’s public transportation. But here is something to consider.
In the West, great value is placed on being present, being there, being in the here and now. During family events, young people are ordered to get off their smartphones and to plug their attention into the occasion. And the command carpe diem (seize the day) is so loved by so many Westerners that it’s not uncommon to see it tattooed on an American foot or nape or chest or arm. The 20th century German philosopher Martin Heidegger famously preached that if you were not in the eternity of the now (the locus of deep philosophizing), you were fallen—distracted.
But how in the world did we in the West come to see the condition of sickness as the truest form of being in the world? This is very strange, no? Being sick is horrible precisely because you are trapped in the now; the illness imprisons you in the bed, in the room, in an eternity that sees no recovery in sight. But what is always the first sign of recovery? Distraction. Your mind is free to wander and think of other things. Free to recall the words on a beautiful nape or some sweet words that were said long ago. Being distracted is being healthy. Being sick is being seized not just by the day but by every single second.
And so, the driver is being condemned to the condition of the unhealthy. Once behind the wheel, they must be present for the here and now. Their eyes must never leave the robot hanging on a wire until it turns green. If the thought of some lover’s lips enters their head, they must shake it off and keep it out. Full attention is needed on the road. This is good driving. This is every weekday morning. This is every evening. And you have to pay a lot of money (insurance, fees, loans) to pay attention. Driving that’s distracted is basically labor in a capitalist utopia: you pay to do a lot of work.
Where as the ill are thrown into the impossible prison of the present, you, driver, must, after handing the officer cash, enter it on your own, close its door, and with an arm sticking out the door’s bars, turn with your hand its key and lock yourself in.
