I recently rented a huge truck (the biggest you can rent with a normal car drivers license) and it had a ton of high tech stuff, lane departure warning, speed warnings, auto braking, and so much more.
The issue was when I was on the highway going 70mph (the max speed of the truck, also artificially restricted) there was a tiny side road with a speed limit of 35mph, and the truck on the highway slammed the brakes with warnings on the dash that I was exceeding the speed limit of 35, but I’m on a highway with a speed limit of 75mph.
Stupid technology. Makes things more dangerous than it should be.
Article specifically says the tech does not affect braking
I got a loaner last time I had my car worked on that had all that shit on it and all the settings for shit hidden in touch screens. Had to drive 45 minutes home with no AC and the thing freaking out on me every time I had to dodge a pot hole or some shit in the road. When I came back to pick up my car they were like “So are you thinking about trading up now?” No, I’m less likely to do that than ever actually.
@Retro_unlimited @cm0002
“Stupid technology. Makes things more dangerous than it should be”
That would be cars themselves. 70mph is way too fast for a car to travel. It might be a decent speed for a train because trains are on a controlled fixed path where cars and pedestrians can only cross in front of them at controlled crossings. Highways are as controlled as a carnival bumper cars ride. 35mph seems about right for cars on the highway. Drivers also kill a lot of wildlife outside the cities.See it regularly here, especially when the overpass is a regular road. Cars slamming on the brakes on the highway at an overpass isn’t great.
Also concerned, and honestly expecting, this will be primarily applied to visibly ethnic groups (aka not white guy in a suit)
@bookcrawler @Retro_unlimited
It should be done to all cars as a safety feature like seat-belts. Cars are too heavy and they go too fast. Drivers kill 40,000+ people a year in the USA alone and send another 2,000,000 to the hospital with injuries. All new cars should have a speed restriction device on them and old cars should be retrofitted. A GPS module costs less than $50 and most cars already have an electronic control unit.
“Instead of using traffic calming to slow cars or designing cities properly so that people don’t need to drive in the first place, let’s violate people’s privacy and property rights to forcibly install a tracking and speed governor device in their car because even when we’ve already suspended their license it’s still somehow unreasonable to actually stop them from driving! Car-dependency and car-supremacy, fuck yeah!”
Everything about this is comprehensively despicable.
Absolutely but…
We do need some cars, for sure. And with that roads and rules. When those rules say that they highest speed in the country is, say, 120pkh, then why the hell is even the shitties car able to somewhat easily reach 200 or better cars even up to the high 200s?we don’t need cars that can reach those speeds, because nobody is allowed to drive at those speeds, so why the hell can just about all cars reach those speeds?
Just make it forbidden for any car to exceed 130kph to begin with.
Then also indeed design your damned roads correctly
If you do want to drive over 120, go drive on a race tracking cars that are now allowed on the streets
While I agree in principle, this change is a win and I hope more states legalize this method.
We give breathalyzer lockouts to DUI convicted citizens. Why? Because they’ll drive anyway. You can pull licenses all you want, but when driving is required to live, the people will drive. And they’ll do it even when they’re a raging alcoholic.
A speed monitor / limiter is a tool for a judge to use. Judges don’t have the power to pull city, state, and federal money and force building better street designs. I don’t believe they should have that power as political issues should not be addressed by a single branch of government. That’s how we got here after all: cities dictating minimum parking, civil engineers pushing terrible designs and refusing to change them, fire departments mandating minimum lane widths, etc.
However, judges do have the power to remove a person’s property and privacy rights. Ergo a good judge will restrict a convicted person’s rights in a way that could feasibly prevent societal harm.
Judges can remove a person’s right to drive too, as can doctors and other civil servants, but that usually ends in death. Literally.
We give breathalyzer lockouts to DUI convicted citizens. Why? Because they’ll drive anyway. You can pull licenses all you want, but when driving is required to live, the people will drive. And they’ll do it even when they’re a raging alcoholic.
Frankly, if we’re going to be fucking with people’s property rights anyway, I think it would actually be better public policy to confiscate the whole car. First of all, it forcibly creates another pedestrian, and therefore increases public support for non-car infrastructure. Second, asserting this right to control parts of people’s property and prohibiting them from modifying it without taking it away completely creates this weird “in-between” kind of ownership that leads to creeping expansion of infringement and has bad implications for things like Right to Repair, etc. I mean, you proved my point yourself: (paraphrased) “we already do it for breathalyzer lockouts, so that must mean it’s okay.” When does it end?
Judges can remove a person’s right to drive too
That has never been a right, except on private land that the driver owns. Driving in public has always been a privilege.
I think it would actually be better public policy to confiscate the whole car.
This is what Denmark does for egregious speeding. Doesn’t matter if it isn’t your car or it’s registered in another country. That car was driving way too fast? State property now.
Frankly, if we’re going to be fucking with people’s property rights anyway, I think it would actually be better public policy to confiscate the whole car.
I agree and would happily vote yes for any measure adding such language to our state and federal laws.
Property seizure, especially with cars, is already a big part of many (all?) state’s law for unpaid taxes and debts. All we would need to do is tack on speeding ticket/points/whatever to allow the state to quickly and easily seize cars.
When does it end?
When we can get our act together to pass and enforce such laws. Until then I’ll take any legislative actions that restrict car drivers.
We can be angry about proposed laws not going far enough, but trying to stop good progress in the name of perfection will allow drivers to continue terrorizing the streets. This is especially true in purple and red states, but it’ll be a fight everywhere (California is desperately in love with cars).
That has never been a right, except on private land that the driver owns. Driving in public has always been a privilege.
That’s why I pointed out a doctor and other civil servants have the same power. We can argue about semantics, but the answer remains the same: a judge can revoke your driver’s license and is empowered for much more, like confiscating your property, sending you to jail, and removing your ability to vote.
I highly recommend reading the link I left in my earlier comment. It seems you haven’t read it. Although perhaps I should include a trigger warning: traffic violence by a driver in a brand new truck who had their license revoked multiple times by a doctor and a judge.
When does it end?
@cm0002 They should use devices to slow ALL cars. The devices should force all cars to stay under the speed limit and the speed limit should be 30 kilometers per hour.
Force cars to not be able to go quicker than a brisk walk. Force everyone to either walk or, if they are in a hurry, ride a bike. Your commute just went from a thirty minute drive to a 5 hour bike ride? Sucks to be you. Can’t afford a place closer to work? Sucks to be you. Planning on visiting relatives in another state and can’t afford air fair and other options, trains or buses, don’t go there? Sucks to be you, set aside a week to get there. An elderly relative is flying into the closest airport, with is now a 4 hour drive away, well…better plan accordingly.
@sin_free_for_00_days
People did all of those things before cars existed. #CarBrain #MotoNormativity #FuckCarsBRING BACK HORSES!! That’s my solution. Piles of horse shit all over the place again. We need to get rid of electricity too, because all these fucking electric cars. Hashtag something or other like I guess people use on twitter. Never used, so I don’t know. PieInTheSky, Shallowthinking? Something like that, right?
Edit: And how in the hell did people pick up elderly relatives from the airport before cars existed?
@sin_free_for_00_days Horse shit is better than car exhaust. No one is dying from cancer, asthma or bronchitis from horse shit. The reason there are no trains or trams near you in the USA is because the automakers and oil companies bought them and shut them down, not because cars are better. How many cars do you see on the road with all the seats full? Cars are too big and too heavy. They go too fast. They need to be smaller and slower. A golf cart is big enough. 30kph is fast enough.
LOL, you need to check your history to see what cities were like before cars came into being. Listen, I’m just having fun for the most part. I think our car culture is fucking stupid and has done untold harm and I am well aware of how car culture came to where it’s at. I also think public transportation should be much more wildly available, and free. Part of the commons. Studies have shown that physical mobility has a bigger impact on social and economic growth that any other variable.
But getting rid of cars, or saying that the top speed for all cars should be 30kph is, sorry, stupid and fantasy thinking. It’s skipping too many steps. Cars suck. I get that. But so much of the fuckcars movement is focusing just on magically getting rid of cars, when it should be focusing on improving all the other options to the point that cars don’t make sense. What really needs to happen is for humans to stop breeding like fucking rats. Which again, is fantasy thinking.
@sin_free_for_00_days
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyleH3H137c
Yes, how horrible it was without cars. People were able to go where they wanted without paying $50K plus insurance, gas and registration and they didn’t have traffic jams. How did they survive?Many didn’t. Hell, vaccines haven’t been around much longer than cars. Before unions? Or way, way back, hunter-gatherer type? I do know that the local Native American tribe that was displaced where I live was said to have had to work approx 2 hours a day to provide for needs, food, shelter. In my opinion they had it better, despite the higher childhood death rates. So, I guess if you go back far enough it can be argued to have been better. But closer history was pretty freaking grim. I’ll check your youtube links when I have more time.
Went to the airport?
I somehow doubt that.
@Ilovethebomb
Only because there were no airports. There were seaports. Trains, trolleys and horse drawn carriages went to the seaports.I’m aware of that, I just felt like pointing out you didn’t even remotely think that through.
Disagree. There are times when an excess of speed is necessary to get into a safe space. Such as crappy drivers of bigger cars or trucks trying to block others. Or not being safe in other ways.
