By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc. Here it is the middle of April and I still do not have my snow tires off.
No, it is not a case of procrastination (well actually it is), but a case
that it is still snowing. (Thanks global warming!) My car is well equipped for the snow, I have snow tires, and like most cars
these days my car has an automatic traction control system that kicks in when
the car starts to lose traction. A while ago I was driving with my daughter
(who also is of driving age) and in the slippery conditions the car started
to lose traction. The traction control system kicked in and a little yellow
warning symbol starting flashing on the dash. My daughter, who like all
teenagers knows everything, made the brilliant observation that if the car
was starting to skid, the last thing you wanted to be is distracted by a
flashing warning light. A fair observation in my opinion. A little further down the road, (a wide road with lots of space on the corner
I might add, and with no cars or pedestrians around), my former dreams of
being a professional rally driver kicked in and I decided to intentionally
swing the car sideways around a corner in order to have a bit of fun. As
expected the traction control started to kick in and the warning light
flashed. However I had the car too far gone and thus the traction control
was quite powerless to prevent my somewhat reckless driving. At this stage
bells started ringing. At this my daughter piped in, “so you get a
flashing light when you are partially out of control and warning bells when
you are totally out of control.” She then added, “What kind of an idiot
needs a warning bell to tell them they are skidding out of control?”
Another fair observation in my opinion. All too often control systems are like that. They flash most noticeably,
and distractingly, when the situation is already too far gone. In those
times, what is needed is focus, not distractions telling you the obvious. By the way, we made it to our destination and back home safely – although I
now have a new game to play with my car …
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc. Here it is the middle of April and I still do not have my snow tires off.
No, it is not a case of procrastination (well actually it is), but a case
that it is still snowing. (Thanks global warming!) My car is well equipped for the snow, I have snow tires, and like most cars
these days my car has an automatic traction control system that kicks in when
the car starts to lose traction. A while ago I was driving with my daughter
(who also is of driving age) and in the slippery conditions the car started
to lose traction. The traction control system kicked in and a little yellow
warning symbol starting flashing on the dash. My daughter, who like all
teenagers knows everything, made the brilliant observation that if the car
was starting to skid, the last thing you wanted to be is distracted by a
flashing warning light. A fair observation in my opinion. A little further down the road, (a wide road with lots of space on the corner
I might add, and with no cars or pedestrians around), my former dreams of
being a professional rally driver kicked in and I decided to intentionally
swing the car sideways around a corner in order to have a bit of fun. As
expected the traction control started to kick in and the warning light
flashed. However I had the car too far gone and thus the traction control
was quite powerless to prevent my somewhat reckless driving. At this stage
bells started ringing. At this my daughter piped in, “so you get a
flashing light when you are partially out of control and warning bells when
you are totally out of control.” She then added, “What kind of an idiot
needs a warning bell to tell them they are skidding out of control?”
Another fair observation in my opinion. All too often control systems are like that. They flash most noticeably,
and distractingly, when the situation is already too far gone. In those
times, what is needed is focus, not distractions telling you the obvious. By the way, we made it to our destination and back home safely – although I
now have a new game to play with my car …
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