Friday, April 1, 2011

Why It's Time for Hover Cars

It is time for some brilliant mind to invent the hover cars we see in movies. And not just because they're cool but because they'd make life SO much easier!

From The Fifth Element

Let me give you a really good example of why we need this invention a.s.a.p. This week, I was headed on the highway to meet my little sister for a shopping day at the mall. (Little back story: last year my parents adopted 3 wonderful children from an agency and gave them a permanent home. My parents are in their late 50's but they love children and I commend them for giving a home to these kiddos. Plus, my youngest brother, whom I grew up with, was adopted, so our family is really big on that.) Returning to my tale...

So my sis was reeeally looking forward to this little mall trip with me, and I felt bad about having to cancel on her once before--I told her we'd go during Spring Break when she was out of school, but I ended up getting scheduled to work every single day. So on our rescheduled day, I got on the highway a couple hours early in order to beat rush-hour traffic.

No prob, I thought. I'll just take a book so I won't have to deal with all those friggin' cars.


Little did I know...that morning, a drunk driver drove into oncoming traffic on that same highway, hit a tanker, and the tanker exploded, melting part of the highway. The city completely shut down part of that highway, and traffic was backed up like I've never seen.

I ended up getting stuck in the stretch of about two miles, with no hope of exit, for three hours. Three. Whole. Hours. All I could think of was my sis, wearing the little dress she'd picked out in advance, clutching her little Jonas Brothers purse, wondering why I'd flaked out on her again.

It was heartbreaking!

As I tried to fight back tears, other cars were overheating, running out of gas; it was crazy! I was so glad I'd filled up recently, and even gladder that I'd gone to the bathroom before setting out on that misadventure. Not to mention, the whole incident was horrible in that the tanker driver didn't make it, and he leaves behind a wife and three children. The drunk driver is now being faced with involuntary manslaughter, as he should... (Please don't drink and drive, people.)

I wound up finally turning around, my step-father so graciously bringing my little sis to the mall near my house, though it was a much farther drive for him. He's such a good person. I was late, but I wound up having just enough time to get some good shopping done with lil sis before the mall closed, though it goes without saying that by that time I was totally exhausted.

So I'm thinking...if we had hover car capabilities, we wouldn't be stuck in a three-hour traffic jam. We could just hover over all that mess and be on our merry way. Not to mention, the tanker driver might have been able to avoid the hit if he could've just hovered over that moron!

Of course, new laws and regulations would have to be put into place so people wouldn't just hover up and hit one another in the air, but to be freed from being ground-bound, to me, has so many possibilities that could free us up. As the world grows and grows in its population, why pack the streets like sardines when we could have multiple lanes up in the air?

Just a thought...

Would you drive a car that had hovering capabilities? Or do you prefer to stick with your wheels?

By the way, my soon-to-be released new bounty hunter novel is set in the future, and guess what? Cars totally hover in the book. ;)

Have a great weekend, everyone, and thanks for stopping by today!

9 comments:

  1. Envious aliens would be saying take me to your dealer instead of leader once the cool hover cars hit the streets.

    The future is so uncertain C.J. that most plans are very often rearranged and no new technology will ever fix that.

    A crisis is a crash coarse in spirituality but I am glad that you and yours were OK today.

    You need a CB CJ.

    Signed, hobo

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  2. Definitely could have used a hover car last Sunday when traffic was at a standstill on I35 in Southlake for one hour! Good way to create jobs: hover car manufacturing, air controllers, etc.!

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  3. We could use them all sorts of places!

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  4. Hover cars in films always look so disciplined flying around in nice straight lines but in reality as soon as there is a road jam they'd be flying off in random directions! Given that I hate flying I wouldn't be too keen but, that said, I live one mile from the M25 motorway (freeway), the busiest road in Europe which regularly grinds to a halt due to sheer volume of traffic. So what you really need is you to have a hover car and everyone else not to. I'd have the Spinner from Blade Runner designed by Syd Meade. Isn't someone in America building a flying car at present?

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  5. Good points, agent. I can have the hover car, and everyone else can be stuck, hahah. The Spinner is an awesome vehicle--I've actually been wanting to read the book Blade Runner was based on. I think it's called 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'. I'll have to look into the American flying car thing. It wouldn't surprise me if someone was working on that :)

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  6. Here its is:

    The Moller Skycar!

    It's so fifties SF!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moller_Skycar_M400

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  7. A CB, C.J. is a citizen band short wave radio, like the ones the trucker's say "breaker-breaker one nine" on. Hoover Trucks will have to have-em or somethin like -em and of coarse, the cars will too!

    Signed, Hoover Train Hobo aka Sky Train Trash

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