Helpful tidbits of common sense

Will robo-taxis offer Wheelchair Accessible services?

A short, sweet, blunt  tidbit of common sense is a gift to be treasured. In the military it’s called a BGO, or “blinding flash of the glaringly obvious.”  

For example, once when I was a  teen-ager learning how to cook, a pan full of liquid meant to be simmered gently began bubbling intensely. The liquid rose to the lip of the pan, suddenly spilling over the edge onto the stovetop.

I stood watching the liquid bubble and rise, curious about what was happening as the I had not increased the temperature any. While I stood watching, my mother leapt from behind me and pulled the pan off of the hot burner.

“I was wondering what I did wrong,” I admitted.

“Rita – when in doubt, take the pan off of the burner,” she instructed, using words that have informed hundreds of personal and professional situations over my entire lifetime: “When in doubt, take the pan off of the burner.”

A second example occurred when I was working as a political staffer to one of the best and smartest politicians Canada  has ever seen, Dave Johnson. Johnson was an engineer before he became Mayor of East York and later an Ontario cabinet minister, the only politician I’ve ever known to hold a Masters degree in Mathematics.

One frantically busy day early in our working relationship, his scheduler was sick and somehow her workload fell to me. The challenges of her job became clear about 3pm when I was rushing through a tunnel between government buildings and I ran across….Dave Johnson, racing in the opposite direction.

“Minister, what are you doing here, you are supposed to be meeting with the Minister of Health!!??” I exclaimed in surprise.

“You SENT ME TO THE WRONG BUILDING!!” he huffed in exasperation.

“OhMyGod, I’m sorry!” I wailed, chagrined at making a mistake that added to his already-high stress levels. “Minister, I am so sorry!”

As he strode away, he turned his head only slightly to call over his shoulder, “Don’t be sorry. BE RIGHT!I”

It became another of the common sense gems I have treasured every day since then: “Don’t be sorry. Be right.”  

One of these perfect moments of common sense occurred during  Ali Enad’s September 9 presentation at the Ontario East Municipal Conference. Enad had prepared an exhaustive, detailed PowerPoint illustrating a comprehensive outline of the areas municipal staff or corporate planners need to consider in contracting a ground transportation company.

The presentation was not fancy or dramatic, but solid and packed with useful information. It’s clear Enad is steeped in and dedicated to detail every minute of his professional life, with particular focus on training for Para and Wheelchair Accessible transportation.

So,  when one of the attendees asked a question about autonomous vehicles, he didn’t immediately grasp what she was asking.

“Do you see self-driving vehicles being used in future?” the woman asked sincerely.

“Excuse me?” Enad blinked, listening hard. “I’m not sure I understand.”

“You know….self-driving, autonomous vehicles,” the woman struggled  to explain. “Do you think municipalities will be using robo-taxis for this service soon?”

Enad hesitated again for a moment, before offering the plainest answer imaginable:

“This service is based upon having a fully trained, professional driver,” he said simply.

The whole room breathed a sigh of relief, as we all for a moment  tried to envision the nightmare scenario of having an unstaffed robo-taxi roll up to the home of a client in a wheelchair who needed assistance getting out the front door, never mind up into a vehicle.

“This service is based upon having a fully trained, professional driver.” I will keep Ali Enad’s response in mind the next 12 or 1200 or 12,000 press releases I have to read involving autonomous vehicles. There may come a day when billions of human beings access transportation services which do not include a driver. Personally, I highly doubt this will occur at any significant scale, with any measure of profitability.

The Taxi industry I work in – past, present, and future – is predicated  upon having fully trained, professional drivers.

It’s common sense.