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Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

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Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#101
post #6

Kinda begs the question why cars can go over 100mph in the first place. Also what the heck is with Newsom vetoing the passive ISA bill?

From Newsome - "Federal law, as implemented by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), already regulates vehicle safety standards, and adding California-specific requirements would create a patchwork of regulations that undermines this longstanding federal framework. NHTSA is also actively evaluating intelligent speed assistance systems, and imposing state-level mandates at this time risks disrupt…

> adding California-specific requirements would create a patchwork of regulations that undermines this longstanding federal framework

Which is exactly what California has been doing for decades.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#102

while this is not a bad idea, why not prevent them from driving at all and massive punishments

How many places in Virginia are car-centric enough that you realistically need one for basic daily activities and work?

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#103
post #97
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure the shithead that killed a family in King County two years ago, while doing 110 in a 40 zone (after already wrecking two cars) didn't give two figs about street design. Casual speeders would benefit from better street engineering. Excessive speeders don't care. They just don't understand the concept of consequences. A speed governor would have likely saved four lives, and that 18-year old man from a 17 ye…

A clear outlier case. Policy should not be made based on the 1 in 1000000 case that's going to be tragic no matter what's put in place.

> A clear outlier case.

Everyone speeds a little when they think it's safe, but some people speed excessively.

This is about making a remedy available to judges, as an alternative to other, less effective, or more draconic (or both less effective and more draconic), forms of punishment.

And judges deal with outlier cases every single day. They job is to look at and weigh all the special cases and considerations, provided by two sides in a dispute, and prescribe one of the many remedies available to them by law.

There's nothing fundamentally immoral, tyrannical, or unfair about requiring an repeat offender who has demonstrated their inability to follow the rules of the road to have a conditional license if they want to keep driving, and there's nothing immoral or unethical about using mechanical mechanisms to enforce those conditions.

Because the alternative is a full revocation (which is catastrophic to the ability to make a living in this country), or prison (which is catastrophic for a whole lot of other reasons). There's a reason that prescribing ignition interlocks for DUIs results in a dramatically lower recividism rate than license suspensions, and a dramatically lower overall social harm than prison.

Locks keep honest people honest, and they put up enough of a hurdle for most less-than-always-honest people to not consistently act like anti-social dipshits. You can circumvent them with effort, but we still use them. They are part of a defense in depth.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#104

A page linked from the article ( https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zLaBRWMSSnjGzMOpoZwUSw_H... ) cites a $4/day rental fee for the equipment, which works out to roughly $120/month. I understand there are assistance programs promised by the article. Can someone in the space help me understand this pricing model? Seems high to me. The faq also claims there are no civil liberties implications for this since people use…

> Can someone in the space help me understand this pricing model?

"You're effectively forced to pay, so we'll make it as high as the system can bear" model. Kind of like the prison calls, etc.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#105

A page linked from the article ( https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zLaBRWMSSnjGzMOpoZwUSw_H... ) cites a $4/day rental fee for the equipment, which works out to roughly $120/month. I understand there are assistance programs promised by the article. Can someone in the space help me understand this pricing model? Seems high to me. The faq also claims there are no civil liberties implications for this since people use…

The pricing is high for the same reason ignition interlock rental fees are high: because they have a captive market and nobody can stop them from charging whatever the hell they want. Once the first couple vendors are certified they lobby hard to make sure the state doesn't certify too many more, which would create competition, and result in reasonable prices.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#106

while this is not a bad idea, why not prevent them from driving at all and massive punishments

How many places in Virginia are car-centric enough that you realistically need one for basic daily activities and work?

Pretty much everywhere except for the area inside the 495 beltway (right next to DC), where public transit is good. But even then, housing prices near metro stations are higher.

You probably want a car in most places, just like almost everywhere in the US.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#107

Does anyone know why Virginia has always been so notoriously draconian about speeding? Is it DC-adjacent policy wonks outsized faith in the effectiveness of top-down prescriptions, lots of DC politicians flagrantly violating the law, culture clash between stuffy suburbanites and yokels (Virginia was the first place I ever saw a trans truck), or what?

It's a massive source of state and local revenue. They have laws on the books (improper driving) which exist solely to negotiate down to.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#108

States can make laws all they like, but will car manufacturers actually implement this in any workable way? I bet 90% of initial implementations will be resettable back to unlimited speed with a simple factory reset or similar.

they want speed check in California, which is major market, and automakers likely will comply.

Re: Virginia passes law to enforce maximum vehicle speeds for repeat speeders

#110
post #24

Seems like an over engineered solution. Revoking drivers license and seizing the car would be cheaper and easier to implement. We don't tolerate repeat offenders in most other circumstances. So why is it that you can keep breaking traffic laws without ever really being stopped from driving?

You don't want to devastate a person's livelihood if you can avoid it. I'd rather have an asshole with a nerfed car and a job than an asshole with no car, no job and way too much time on his hands.

you don't want to devastate a person's livelihood so you let them continue driving and causing crashes?
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