Live data from Hacker News

Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

spectrumlocalnews.com

61–70 of 81 posts

Re: Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

#61
post #42
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and while you're at it why not make all prison sentences for life?! That would definitely keep even more asocial people off a lot of roads... But seriously, what happened to that quaint old concept that "the punishment should fit the crime"? In a country where public transport sucks, losing your driver's license is a rather small step up from house arrest. And 11 points in NY, which is how most people would run a…

Dangerous driving is a violent crime, with potentially deadly outcome. The punishment should be harsh for repeat offenders. Its not a crime your socioeconomic circumstances made you do, its very easy to just drive within the speed limit. Tough punishment for crimes usually done by the middle-class do often seem harsh for people, even though its not really harsh compared to many other actual victimless crimes.

>The punishment should be harsh for repeat offenders. Its not a crime your socioeconomic circumstances made you do, its very easy to just drive within the speed limit. Tough punishment for crimes usually done by the middle-class do often seem harsh for people, even though its not really harsh compared to many other actual victimless crimes.

I think it's a strange argument to say we'll make things fair to poor people in jail for drug offenses by sending less poor people to prison for speeding tickets.

Re: Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

#62
post #54
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25mph over is bonkers. Doing that twice in a one and a half year should definitely have heavy consequences.

You're probably thinking 50 in a 25 zone, which is indeed crazy. But 80 on a 55 stretch in the middle of nowhere is not at all unusual in a lot of places.

>But 80 on a 55 stretch in the middle of nowhere is not at all unusual in a lot of places.

Or anywhere on the NY Thruway.

Re: Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

#63
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, except for the prison time part: NYC’s prisons are more or less torture sites[1], and we really don’t need to send more people to be tortured. Driving a car is a privilege that can and should be rescinded, especially in a city where so many alternatives exist. [1]: https://apnews.com/article/rikers-island-new-york-city-006c6...

Sounds like a good argument for prison reforms, not making dangerous driving a consequence free crime.

Sure, but then why not first make sure that the prison reform happens before sending people to the torture place?

Re: Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

#64
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, except for the prison time part: NYC’s prisons are more or less torture sites[1], and we really don’t need to send more people to be tortured. Driving a car is a privilege that can and should be rescinded, especially in a city where so many alternatives exist. [1]: https://apnews.com/article/rikers-island-new-york-city-006c6...

Sounds like a good argument for prison reforms, not making dangerous driving a consequence free crime.

I think it’s a good argument for both. We’re not going to imprison people indefinitely for dangerous driving, and prisons are not driving schools.

If they can’t be trusted to drive safely, then they shouldn’t be allowed to drive. We have simpler (cheaper, more humane, etc.) ways to do that than putting them in a cage.

Re: Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

#65
> ensuring they could not exceed the speed limit by more than five miles per hour

I'm just afraid that this measure can have some impact when the person really needs to overspeed. Like some medical condition in the middle of the night. Not everybody lives near some hospital, nor ambulances can cover the whole city.

Re: Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

#66

Not a huge fan of this. The really dangerous drivers in New York aren't dangerous because they're speeding. They're really dangerous because they weave in and out of tightly packed traffic trying to find a minuscule gap to wedge themselves into to try and go around everybody. If anything, being unable to go fast is going to psychologically compel impatient people to take even more risks to make up for time they'll be…

This is NYC; ideally all of the drivers would be “slow-pokes” on city streets. I don’t think we even have passing lanes in the city, besides highways.

This whole thread is peak "NYC forgets that NY State exists"

Re: Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Take away their license, impound their vehicle if they continue to drive it, and then sell it to pay their fines if they fail to do so.

Yes, really, with respect to your original post. You have just added vehicle impounding as an alternative measure to fix it.

This is a weirdly adversarial reading: “rescinded” doesn’t have to stop at their driver’s license.

Re: Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

#68
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, except for the prison time part: NYC’s prisons are more or less torture sites[1], and we really don’t need to send more people to be tortured. Driving a car is a privilege that can and should be rescinded, especially in a city where so many alternatives exist. [1]: https://apnews.com/article/rikers-island-new-york-city-006c6...

...especially in a city where so many alternatives exist. For what it's worth, this proposal affects the state, not the city. The state with regions where it's not abnormal to get 6+ feet of snow per year. I don't disagree with the sentiment, just pointing out that it's a bit more complex than telling people to use alternate transportation.

Thanks for pointing that out. That does indeed make it harder to establish a policy of confiscation for repeated offenses.

Re: Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, really, with respect to your original post. You have just added vehicle impounding as an alternative measure to fix it.

This is a weirdly adversarial reading: “rescinded” doesn’t have to stop at their driver’s license.

It is a very straightforward reading... Incidentally, I have responded to the impounding option on an adjacent thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36970547

Re: Lawmakers propose 'speed limiters' for repeat offenders in New York

#70
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is NYC; ideally all of the drivers would be “slow-pokes” on city streets. I don’t think we even have passing lanes in the city, besides highways.

This whole thread is peak "NYC forgets that NY State exists"

In my defense, it’s very easy to.

Then again: the law in question has bounds that are reasonable across the entire state. You shouldn’t speed; if you think the limit is too low, petition to get it raised. I wouldn’t object particularly if this bill was stapled to a limit increase on I-87.

Post reply on HN