The nanny state is at it again:
🚨 The federal government has mandated that all vehicles sold after 2026 must have a kill switch that can disable your vehicle based on your driving performance.
My amendment to defund that unconstitutional mandate failed tonight.
Here is the roll call:https://t.co/YWufj9BuMv
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 8, 2023
This tweet generated a ton of responses from conservative followers who were outraged at the idea that the government is going to monitor your driving and activate a "kill switch" if it doesn't approve. But that isn't what's really happening. Here's the skinny:
- This is solely about reducing drunk driving. It was part of the 2021 infrastructure bill.
- Cars will be fitted with devices that (a) detect alcohol in the air via sensors in the door and (b) measure blood alcohol levels via infrared lights in the ignition button.
- If you are over the legal limit, your car will start but it won't move.
- This is entirely in-car tech. Neither the police nor anyone else has access to it.
- The IIHS estimates it will save 9,000 lives per year.
You can decide for yourself what you think of this. But you should at least know what's really going on.
Opening line from P. K. Dick's The Gameplayers of Titan. Apparently Pete's car and 'medicine cabinet' (It's P. K. D.) talk to each other.
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Why no spam filter here? Or moderation, apparently.
i highly doubt this will ever be implemented and will certainly face a mountain of lawsuits if it does. i wouldn't be surprised if by the time it's all sorted out we'll just have widespread self-driving AI and this will all be moot.
I dunno if someone said it, but there is no way to do this and not block people with diabetes and other conditions (like, say, being black) or block designated drivers from access to driving a drunk who puked or spilled on themselves.
I do not even know what they're thinking.
It does seem iffy and defeatable by opening the windows and turning the ventilation on high. How does the "measure blood alcohol levels via infrared lights in the ignition button" thingy work exactly? If a bottle of vodka in the car gets broken or spilled because the cap wasn't tight does the car stop?
I'm really surprised at the skepticism and technophobia displayed in these comments.
Yes, obviously, if the technology is crude, imprecise, inaccurate or cumbersome (can't drive if passenger has had two beers!) it's not going to fly with the public.
But what if, you know, the kinks can be worked out and it actually works well?
Driver error has long been the low-hanging fruit of highway safety. Y'all seriously wouldn't want this technology implemented if it it were genuinely seamless and convenient, and its implementation saved 10,000 lives (and countless horrible injuries) a year?
Maybe it won't work well for all I know. I guess time will tell! But if it does work, the only people who should be complaining are folks who like to drive buzzed, and the people who make money serving them. Seriously, just taking a fucking cab.
Should add: I do agree with those suggesting self-driving technology will probably obviate the need for this kind of technology before too long. Hell, it may even arrive before drunk-driving prevention technology is perfected.
What if?
This isn't technophobic. We literally have no idea how to do this. There is no 'litmus test' to detect this that doesn't also fail for other reasons.
It's like trying to limit drivers licenses by height: Some kids are tall. Some old people are infirm. Some adults aren't tall.
It's not the technology, it's that the physical world doesn't work that way.