Flying cars in the future?

Here's an excerpt from a recent post that I read in the auto section @ MSN:

"Excuse us for asking, but what's taking the concept of a flying car so long to, uh, get off the ground? A "roadable aircraft" has been a geek's dream since the idea first surfaced in the early 1900s. Even Henry Ford predicted that a flying car was inevitable. However, the idea has lingered in relative obscurity — that is, until recently." Read more, here: "Flying Cars on the Rise" [link is no longer valid]

Sample image:

I looked at a few other models pertaining to flying automobiles, and I wasn't very impressed. Most of them simply looked like airplanes with bigger wheels and retractable wings. A bulky vehicle with wings is not what the typical science fiction fanatic pictures when thinking about flying cars. Personally, I'm thinking more along the lines of the flying DeLorean, like in the movie "Back to the Future - Part 2," as depicted below:


Will flying cars be a part of our future? Of course, there will be more and more flying vehicles that can be approved for road transport, but the idea that all grounded automobiles get replaced with flying cars, sounds a bit far-fetched to me.

I mean really, we haven't even replaced all the gasoline and diesel-fueled vehicles with more efficient power systems and alternative fuels, as of yet. There are tons of high-pollutant vehicles abound on the roadways that are constantly pumping out toxic emissions in excess, and we haven't even rectified this, as a whole. It sounds like "big oil money" is part of the hold up, in my opinion, but lets say that we just skip over that step and head right into flying vehicular mania!

Can you imagine that?

Yeah, me neither... First of all, we'd have to incorporate "flying cops" so we could be rewarded with constant fines and tickets for our petty traffic violations, much like what happens on the road today. Also, we have enough idiot drivers out there that can't even drive on the damn highway or on the city streets without being a hazard to society, so how in the hell would they be able to man a flying contraption?

If there are collisions in the air, they will have to crash-land somewhere! I don't want to hear on the news, "today there was a head-on collision involving two drunk college students; the flying cars ended up crashing into a crowded neighborhood, damaging 2 homes and killing 12 people - including the drivers."
What if people get drunk and want to cruise around in their flying car? Will a DUI (driving under the influence) become an FUI (flying under the influence)? Ha-ha!

So many questions with very few answers...
So as of now, I think a society full of flying cars will be left to my imagination and anytime I want to vision this sci-fi based concept, I'll just think of the movie Back to the Future - Part 2, as I mentioned earlier. Besides, I still refuse to get on a plane, so what good would this flying car idea do me anyway? Ha! I'm staying grounded at the moment, so thanks anyway... Cheers!

---End of Post "Flying cars in the future?"