Scary: My car is smarter than a train

So I have to ask. What’s up? Wednesday the Post reported that it was 10 years ago when our federal government gave the Metropolitan Transportation Authority $ 1 billion to install Positive Train Control.

It is still not done and probably will not be for several years.

I’m probably just naive, but each morning I get into my car and the darn thing can tell me how to get just about anywhere.

Along the way it will keep me in my driving lane, adjust the speed relative to the cars around me, maintain a safe following distance and apply the brakes if necessary.

Not only that, it knows traffic conditions, my speed, the local speed limit, my arrival time, what my compass heading is, the elevation and outside temperature.

It can also direct me to any number of locations, be it a hospital, gas station, Italian restaurant or a Dunkin’ Donuts, to name but a few.

It can tell me local weather forecasts, when I will run out of gas and when to change the oil.

My car knows what kind of music I like, where I prefer my seat and mirrors and if the passenger seat is occupied in the event of air bag deployment.

My car can dial the phone and read and write text messages.

It knows if something is in front of me, behind me or approaching from the side.

Ten years ago my car was as dumb as a train.

One billion dollars and 10 years. Maybe we hired the wrong people. Maybe it is symptomatic of everything we let bureaucrats handle for us. Peter Doherty Stratford