If this gets Implemented, say goodbye to enjoying driving forever.

"yourunclejim" (yourunclejim) 10/27/2013 at 23:46 • Filed to: None

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http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-r…

Victorious Secret > yourunclejim 10/27/2013 at 23:47

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To what?

Easier insurance cases? More accountability? More scrutiny?

You have no right to drive. It is a privilege. If this is what it takes to get people to recognize the distinction, so be it.

yourunclejim > Victorious Secret 10/27/2013 at 23:54

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The article specifies that the boxes would only log miles and tax the driver accordingly, and states that they may or may not record speed or location data. In response to your second point, I think that better solutions could be devised to show people driving is not a right that don't punish those who see it as a privilege, i. e. people who drive for fun.

edit: went back and re-read the article

desertdog5051 > yourunclejim 10/27/2013 at 23:54

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I will pay a higher gas tax. I will not go for a big brother monitoring system. We all know where that leads. Can you say N..S..A?

Good fricking god, I am so glad I am not 18 years old and have to grow up with this nanny shit.

offroadkarter > yourunclejim 10/27/2013 at 23:57

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This won't pass

GhostZ > yourunclejim 10/28/2013 at 00:07

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Kailand09 > yourunclejim 10/28/2013 at 00:26

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If this becomes law, I will do my best to start a revolution to get rid of big brother in the U.S., or simply move out.

Hearing things like this makes me afraid for my future, and for my (currently nonexistent) kids' futures.

As if that will stop at simply measuring miles logged. HAH! Right.

Manuél Ferrari > Victorious Secret 10/28/2013 at 00:44

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This will happen for sure unless someone finds an alternative. Eventually there will be a high percentage of EV vehicles. The gas tax will no longer fund road maintenance. Taxing electricity won't work since it's used for many purposes other than recharging EV car batteries.

Gas taxes are a usage based tax. Something needs to replace it. Tracking odometer readings at the time a car is sold is too infrequent. I can't think of any other way the gov can apply a usage based tax other than by tracking each car's usage. Yes it has pitfalls, but unless someone has a workable alternative it will happen.

TheOnelectronic > yourunclejim 10/28/2013 at 00:53

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I think people who drive for fun won't log nearly as many miles as the commuters.

TheOnelectronic > yourunclejim 10/28/2013 at 00:56

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Why not just have owners report their odometer readings? FFS, you don't need a black box to track mileage.

desertdog5051 > Victorious Secret 10/28/2013 at 01:00

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"Easier insurance cases? More accountability? More scrutiny"?

Victorious, you have stepped beyond the limits of logic. Do you not understand where small and logical things progress to? You must look at the bigger picture. Whenever governmental entities are allowed to gain control there becomes a need for more control.

Yes, driving is a privilege, but how I drive is not something you need to monitor. If I drive in a dangerous way, the cops will catch me and cause me to lose my license.

I do not need a monitor in my vehicle to alert some bureaucrat, (who has no idea that I am on a twisty, empty mountain road or flat, long straightaway) that I need to be stopped for the good of society. I do beg to differ with you on this.

desertdog5051 > Manuél Ferrari 10/28/2013 at 01:42

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My alternative would be based on gross vehicle weight. It is not so much how many miles are driven on a road, but how much weight is put on it. When a Wal-Mart opened a couple of miles from me the right lane of the road leading to it significantly deteriorated due to the weight of the trucks.

The heavier the GVW of a vehicle is, the larger the tax. This would be applied when getting new license plates.

Manuél Ferrari > desertdog5051 10/28/2013 at 01:59

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That's definitely true that weight impacts the wear and tear on the roads. But the problem with just using weight is that it doesn't take miles driven into account at all, whereas the current gas tax does. Even a light car creates costs for the government when driven a lot. The more people use the roads the more roads, interchanges, etc. have to be built and maintained.

Maybe there could be some middle ground that did not involve real-time logging. Consumers could manually initiate the transfer of data when renewing the vehicle registration. Then the registration renewal cost would be calculated based on the number of miles driven per year. And maybe pure EV vehicles could have higher renewal costs than gasoline and hybrid vehicles since owners already paid into the gas tax system if they purchased gas/diesel.

If there was a once a year data transmittal process then steps could be taken to make it transparent. Consumers could have an opportunity to see what information will be transmitted before it's uploaded. I think consumers should have a right to know what is sent. I wouldn't really mind if I had to submit general information such as how many miles were driven since I have to give that information to the insurance company anyhow and the government gets it at the time the vehicle is sold. But I don't think it's fair or necessary for the government to get detailed tracking info about everywhere I went and when. There should be clear laws on what meta data is tracked and consumers should have a way to ensure that only that meta data is tracked and transmitted.

Squid > yourunclejim 10/28/2013 at 02:34

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You know, if this actually meant better roads and CalTrans actually fixing shit then it might be a good thing, but the privacy issue is concerning. Is there a distinction of driving on private roads versus public? lets say you go on a cross country road trip that encompasses all 48 of the continental US, do you have to pay each state/local government you pass through? Would you get charged for driving around in parking lots or on a private racetrack? I just see too many ways of abuse for this to be a worthwhile endeavor. And no, I will not pay someone to hard wire this device into my car, nor will I go and recharge its batteries. But then again if it actually went to fixing our roads and not lining the pockets of the fucking no good politicians then meh.

Slave2anMG > yourunclejim 10/28/2013 at 07:42

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This could be the best thing to happen to mass transit in decades...

And the gas tax is not sustainable? Then increases the fucking registration taxes. Period. But if anybody thinks people will allow the government to track everywhere they go, they're crazy...especially after the NSA scandal broke. Who in their right mind would trust the government with that sort of data?

Slave2anMG > yourunclejim 10/28/2013 at 07:44

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"The article specifies that the boxes would only log miles and tax the driver accordingly,"

And precisely why do you believe this? How can the system track miles without knowing where? The miles have to be measured somehow...and can only be done by measuring route.