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Congress mandates new car technology to stop drunken driving (2021)

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Re: Congress mandates new car technology to stop drunken driving (2021)

#41
post #7

This is terrible. All such systems will have false positives. It's wrong to treat everyone as a criminal instead of reserving such systems for people who actually have been convicted of it.

I'm sympathetic to this point of view, but then we have to be consistent with it. No TSA. No license plate scanners. No fare gates for trains. No locks on doors. No anti-shoplifting tags. EDIT: Is there some Emerson convention in town? You can look at my comments for some of his other quotes (It's actually not very surprising to me that an Anglo abolitionist who also believed that Anglos were the 'best' race wasn't a…

We already have the third amendment.

Re: Congress mandates new car technology to stop drunken driving (2021)

#45
The laws are already in place to convince (most) people against impaired driving. The threat of losing your license and being fined is already there. Increase the punishment along with naming and shaming the criminals publicly. Imprison second time offenders as they clearly have a drinking or substance problem that needs treatment and they can't be trusted to operate motor vehicles.

This is just a slow creep towards total governmental and manufacturer control of vehicles under the guise of ~safety~. I hope I can still buy offline vehicles for a bargain well into my life but with society and the law pushing people towards electric vehicles, I feel like that window is slowly closing because electric vehicles are even more guilty of this.

I hope the government will force these companies to release the algorithms used to determine whether someone is driving impaired so the public and other auto companies can work together to improve reliability of systems and also help up-and-coming automakers to implement these systems without another expensive barrier to entry to get past.

But they won't - and we'll be stuck with sub-par programming that doesn't account for edge cases, dirty sensors, broken cameras, electrical problems, and requiring expensive first-party repairs at your "authorized (st)ealership" whenever a part of the system has a slight problem.

Owning things is getting more and more expensive - no need to tack on more governmentally forced features that would really only prevent the die-hard drinkers and drug users from driving when they should be locked up in the first place.

Re: Congress mandates new car technology to stop drunken driving (2021)

#46

I am really dreading the day my current car from 2015 that has no fancy tech features fails beyond repair and I have to get a new car. I will first attempt to get an older car with low mileage, but old cars won't last forever.

I've been dreading this about my 2007. You probably have some time ;)

Re: Congress mandates new car technology to stop drunken driving (2021)

#47
Can't wait for the inevitable cases of people in extremis trying to drive themselves to a hospital from far out in the country dying on the roadside because their car decided that their driving was erratic or their behavior inside the car was unusual.

Re: Congress mandates new car technology to stop drunken driving (2021)

#48
post #7

This is terrible. All such systems will have false positives. It's wrong to treat everyone as a criminal instead of reserving such systems for people who actually have been convicted of it.

I'm sympathetic to this point of view, but then we have to be consistent with it. No TSA. No license plate scanners. No fare gates for trains. No locks on doors. No anti-shoplifting tags. EDIT: Is there some Emerson convention in town? You can look at my comments for some of his other quotes (It's actually not very surprising to me that an Anglo abolitionist who also believed that Anglos were the 'best' race wasn't a…

> No TSA.

Yes.

> No license plate scanners.

Yes.

> No fare gates for trains.

Sure. A lot of places will do the fare check on the train.

> No locks on doors.

Well, no mandated locks. I hope I'm able to leave my front door unlocked if I choose. It's my door.

> No anti-shoplifting tags.

Ok. Again, I don't see why these should be required by law.

And mine:

> No compliance surveillance built into my possessions.

Yes.

Re: Congress mandates new car technology to stop drunken driving (2021)

#49
post #37

I am really dreading the day my current car from 2015 that has no fancy tech features fails beyond repair and I have to get a new car. I will first attempt to get an older car with low mileage, but old cars won't last forever.

Technically old cars can last forever if you simply keep repairing and replacing parts. Got an engine with 200k miles on it? Swap it with a new one! Obviously it’s not easy and can be very expensive (and many mechanics will look at you weird if asking them to do $20k of maintenance on a 20 year old car, but they won’t say no!)

I'm not opposed to having a car of Theseus, but I'm not particularly wealthy so like most people I would have to replace it once the cost of maintenance exceeds the cost of monthly payments on something newer.

Re: Congress mandates new car technology to stop drunken driving (2021)

#50
post #5

It is already illegal to drive on public roads or third party property while intoxicated. Drunk driving interlocks which you have to blow in are pretty much the only way this could possibly be implemented. But https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/business/drunk-driving-in... "The Unforeseen Dangers of a Device That Curbs Drunken Driving".

In some states merely sitting on driver's seat with no intention to drive while intoxicated can lead to DUI charges. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgOekbY8Sqs
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