Chapter 22 p20 – Maybe if you used less makeup I wouldn’t be sweating
Nov18
Reseda: Who do these people think they are, not allowing cats? We didn’t have to stay here. We could keep driving. I could drive all night!
Timothy: Sure, but I want to sleep in a real bed. And watch some TV. If housekeeping comes along, you’ll just have to switch back to human.
Reseda: Okay — but until then, I’m staying like this.
(TRANSFORM!)
Timothy: If we were in a movie, when I turned this on, it would be showing something essential to our trip . . .
New York
Makeup tech: Mr. Bennett, if you keep sweating this much, it’ll ruin your makeup.
And back at the motel:
Reseda: Ooh, I hope he gets that mouse this time.
Call me crazy, but like hell would I trust a being to drive an RC car, let alone some Detroit steel. How can beings even drive anyway?
Why wouldn’t they be able to drive? Their human forms have all the physiological prerequisites, and I’ve an intuition that they’d be more reliable than human drivers. They’ll never fall asleep at the wheel, drive drunk, text while driving, etc. Only problem is that they can’t read road signs, but as long as there’s a human giving directions, that shouldn’t be a big issue.
There are definitely some concerns there. Road signs, for example, as Seth pointed out, but even beyond that, /speed/ limits. I gather Reseda probably knows numbers well enough, as those are comparatively simple, but even then it’s not a chance I’d be willing to take. I’d trust them to drive /safely/, just not to follow all the rules of the road. And what if they get pulled over?
Admittedly, all this pales in comparison to the fact that I doubt that they ever pick a good radio station.
Their inability to read is not some sideefect of them being Being, it’s just they never learned to. So them knowing enough to read speed limits and other road signs except the ones with names of cities doesn’t seem that unlikely. Also, lot of drivers don’t follow the rules of the road either AND don’t drive safely.
… I stand corrected. According to last Q&A, it IS harder for them to learn to read because their Beings. I asked this question there.
Beings can do incredibly complex tasks including being an archaeological assistant, a cook, and pretending to be someone else. With specific enough orders, they could probably drive a moderate distance without getting lost.
The problem is, those orders would have to include all stops, turns, and parking instructions, in accordance with local traffic laws. It’s probably not worth the effort to let your Being drive.
To Erin: what are the laws in America, UK, and Europe about letting Beings drive? If the car gets pulled over, who is responsible for answering questions?