Little kids are sometimes told to sit up! – and pay attention! – by their parents or teachers. This usually passes when they graduate from kindergarten. If you miss that childhood experience, good news.
Your next new car will do the same – and maybe more.
Because all new cars will soon have (and most already have) a drowsy driver detection system. This is also sometimes marketed as a distracted driving detection system. The latter slides into synonymity with impaired driving, which has already come to be synonymous with drunk driving.
What these systems all have in common is an eye movement monitor built into the dashboard, facing the driver. It continuously scans the driver’s face and tracks the movement of the driver’s eyes. If the system decides the driver isn’t focused on the road ahead, it prompts visual and audible corrections.
Well, what could be objectionable about that? Shouldn’t drivers be paying attention to their driving?
The premise that they aren’t is the first problem (and insult). All of this technology presumes the driver requires monitoring; not unlike the way ankle bracelets monitor the movements of people convicted of minor crimes, sentenced to a period of house arrest. There was once a degree of dignity inherent in the acquisition of a driver’s license. These were not just handed out to anyone who filled out a form. It was necessary to establish – as via a road test – a degree of competence in order to be licensed as a driver.
It was the premise – once – that served as the justification for requiring drivers to be licensed. If you could not demonstrate competence as a driver, you didn’t get the license.
Now, of course, a driver’s license is nothing more than an ID – bar code and all – that is issued to literally anyone who applies. It is as meaningful a totem of competence as a mail-order divinity degree.
So – now – cars are built with “technology” that presumes licensed drivers aren’t competent to drive. Else why would it be necessary to “assist” them? They are presumed unable to keep a car in its travel lane without Lane Keep Assistance. Unable to apply the brakes in time to avoid hitting things without Brake Assistance. Unable to park without Park Assistance. Unable to avoid pulling in front of traffic without Cross Traffic Assistance. Unable to avoid “speeding” without Speed Limit Assistance.
And now they are presumed unable to keep their eyes on the road – and likely to fall asleep behind the wheel – absent “assistance.”
That’s the theory, anyhow.
In practice, these systems are even more impaired than the supposedly impaired drivers they supposedly are there to “assist.” The eye monitor system, for instance, gets upset and tries to correct when the driver is paying attention – just not exclusively to what’s directly ahead.
Italics to emphasize that there is more to driving safely than tunnel-visioning on what’s ahead exclusively. There is also what’s behind – and to the side. An alert driver scans his driving environment. This involves glancing left and right as well as keeping track of what’s ahead. Because otherwise, all you’re focused on is what’s directly ahead. Never mind the deer that’s about to jump out in front of you from the right or left side of the road.
But the drowsy/distracted driver system wants your eyes focused ahead continuously and exclusively. When it catches you looking elsewhere, it corrects you – with scolding beeps and displays, a kind of electronic rap on the knuckles. This – along with all the other corrections – is itself distracting. It is almost impossible to not be constantly corrected by these “assistance technologies,” which are programmed to a degree of micromanagement that makes driving the car as annoying as it is distracting.
Probably on purpose.
Eventually – the hope seems to be – drivers will just give up on driving altogether, if only to avoid being constantly beeped at and corrected by the car they’re trying to drive. Here it is worth mentioning the interesting fact that these “technologies” are not being offered as optional features that people who feel they need “assistance” can buy but are embedded as standard equipment in new cars and being mandated such. Why do you suppose that is? What is the logical, inevitable end to this?
Obviously, it is to “assist” the driver into the passenger seat. You will drive nothing and be happy. Here’s a a delicious crushed cricket bar for you to nosh on in the meanwhile.
It is the will of Landru.
For now, you can put a piece of tape over the eye monitor, which is extremely satisfying because it stymies the electronic nanny. Driver’s Face Not Detected. Sit Up! silently screams the eye monitor nag. After awhile, it gives up and tucks tail. Drowsy Driver Detection system not available. Please see owner’s manual.
But it’s a temporary victory, probably. The technology surely has the ability to punch back, as by partially or even completely disabling the vehicle when the system detects an attempt to blindfold it. The car goes into “limp home” mode. Or it just shuts itself off. That’s coming.
It’s specified.
It’s the entire point of all this “technology” and “assistance.”
Biden says so – directly – in the federal mandate requiring it beginning with the 2026 model year. What you’re seeing in the dashboard right now is just a preview. The full show is coming to a dealership near you, in a little more than a year from now.
So – sit up straight! And keep your eyes on the road!
. . .
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‘Driver’s Face Not Detected‘ — eric
Were you invited to the state dinner for Japan’s prime minister Kishida, comrade?
‘As he entered the festivities against a backdrop of giant painted fans, President Bill Clinton pointed joyfully at a portrait of his wife, Hillary Clinton, the former first lady. Mrs. Clinton, standing next to her husband in a fuchsia-and-gold caftan, beamed.
“Oh, we’re having a good time tonight,” Mrs. Clinton said to reporters.
‘The billionaire Jeff Bezos arrived with his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, and did not say whether he planned to donate to Mr. Biden’s campaign. Neither did Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, when asked the same question.
‘The actor Robert De Niro, who arrived with his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, did not answer reporters who asked if he was prepared to campaign for Mr. Biden.’ — NYT
https://archive.ph/YBZ04#selection-1075.0-1075.153
If you weren’t there, you’re hopelessly square.
Or even worse, poor. 🙁
Hi Jim!
Hell, I don’t get invited to anything anymore. I’ve become an extreme outlier. Last time I attended a “long lead” press event for a vehicle that was going to be released a few months later, I was just about the only man in the group; the majority were women and the rest scruff-beard soy boys. I could barely stand to be around them – and no doubt they felt the same about me. This isn’t my country anymore – and I mourn the loss.
Despite living in a country with 330 million people, I have never felt more alone & isolated. As society continues to degenerate and morality exits stage left, the only question now is “how low can we go?”
Sadly, Dave, you may not want to ask that question. For you may be terrified when the bottom really drops out. This is just a warm up…
@ Shadow
Oh I agree, we’re going lower, a lot lower. I’ve been pondering this question for a long time, which led me to consider another pertinent question; just how do we get there? Do we have a catastrophic implosion due to some kind of economic or man-made disaster, a real war or plague — or perhaps maybe all of those — or do we get a slow death by grinding lower month after month, year after year until we finally hit rock bottom? Good question.
I’ve gone back and forth between those two alternatives so many times that I’ve lost track. Recently I’ve switched back to the cataclysmal school of thought due to the sheer madness and insane actions of a populace gone bonkers.
I’m not sure if one is better than the other. Does it really matter though, because nothing’s gonna change until the country goes splat. Maybe we should wish to get it over sooner than later.
From past experiences, Dave, thanks to growing up in hell, it was sometimes it was a torture session in, and of itself, waiting for the torture session I knew was coming. If that makes any sense. The seemingly endless waiting for what you know is coming….the nervous, mind wracking anticipation. The body in the fight mode, trying to be ready ahead of time for God only knows what this time around. The endless thoughts that run through the mind: What kind will it be this time? Electroshock, near drowning? Popping out of some limbs from sockets? Flaying? Or will something new be tried this time around? Just to name a few, and gosh, there are so many torture types to chose from-whether it be physical, mental, or psychological, as humans have been torturing and brutalizing their fellow humans for many years. Sometimes, just getting the damned thing done and over with was far better than the seemingly endless waiting itself. For then, it was done, and the body (and mind, soul, and spirit) could make an attempt to recover from the damage if possible. At least until the next time around. Just rip the bandage off already, fast and hard, rather than a little at a time. The rabbit hole is a very deep, dark one, and no one can truly prepare oneself for how endless that hole is. But, true to habit, better to prepare, than not.
Hi Jim,
How delightful that billionaires and wealthy Hollywood types attended that State dinner the Bidens had for Japan’s Prime Minister (Sarcasm). If it had been Trump or any REPUBLICAN President who had billionaires such as Jeff Bezos attending such a state dinner in the middle of a bad economy, establishment media would be having a field day running stories about how that president was “out of touch” with average Americans. It’s kind of telling that these uber wealthy types won’t say if they’re donating money to the Biden Thing’s (laughable) re-election campaign.
The Noo Yawk Slimes does it again.
Quote:
“expectations that Iran would retaliate against Israel for its strike on an Iranian target in Syria.”
Correction:
expectations that Iran would retaliate against Israel for [the destruction of the Iranian embassy in Damascus,] Syria.
Meanwhile, the El Lay Slimes informs us that it is “the warmest year on record,” whereas the data from Weather Underground, which agrees with the thermometer on my back porch, indicates we are having a late spring, with temperatures consistently about 10 degrees F below average.
To paraphrase the late, great Groucho Marx, “Who are you gonna believe? Them, or your own eyes?”
Off Topic: Dismantling hybrid electric semi trucks (with under 20K miles) for scrap
https://youtu.be/3kPhoXOLvRo?feature=shared
‘Little kids are sometimes told to sit up! – and pay attention!‘ — eric
… and wait!
In my last three visits to Walmart, half the self-service checkouts were inoperative. Today I asked the attendant when they’ll be fixed. ‘They aren’t broken,’ she replied. ‘Corporate says one attendant can only watch three machines now. So we turned the others off. Too much shrinkage, you know.’
Revealing, ain’t it? Despite Uncle Sam running a $2 trillion deficit (for ‘defense’ contractors and ‘health care’ mafiosi, not for the sorry likes of us), some of the peasants have no bread. Now they’re starting to steal to eat. So we have to queue up:
‘One evening in Moscow, tired of the scoldings (and tired full stop), I set myself the task of getting round my local shop without incurring a fault. All seemed to be well until the final hurdle — where to place the basket for the till lady to check. She pounced — they’d all been watching me — and my stiff reprimand began. Tap tap went her sharp polished nails; I’d violated space reserved for their display of chewing gum. But I had had enough this time; I picked up the offending basket, full of what I’d planned to eat, and then I hurled it down the shop.
There was a chorus of sharp breaths; a shopper in another queue even covered her eyes. Sensing a good evening’s sport, the shop goons all advanced on me, their hands already hovering beside their loaded guns. But something in my space had changed; it felt like clouds of kindliness. ‘Poor girl,’ the till lady announced. ‘She’s only tired. We’re all so tired.’
https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/soviet-socialism-was-no-good-at-groceries/
Bidenomics for the win! /sarc
The solution to all this Nanny-State business???
Defund the DOT, EPA, FBI, TSA, CIA and a whole laundry list/bunch of other 3 letter agencies…
Audit the FED, and all other US Feral Gov’t Agencies…especially CONgress…
But…wish in one hand, piss in the other…
And see which one fills up first!!!
The slave owners have been ruining cars, through regulations, since 1970…
get a great experience car while you still can…the end of them is near….
The worst experience car?…an EV…very boring…no sound, emotion or feeling….just dead….
The best experience car?…An ice powered…. Ariel Atom V8…or…. this 1400 lb….1000 HP Ariel Atom….
An F1 car is 1600 lb and 1000 HP….
UK’S FASTEST CAR! 1000 BHP ARIEL ATOM……ice powered cars are fun…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LG8RLAleaQ
The solution to all this Nanny-State business???
Defund the DOT, EPA, FBI, TSA, CIA and a whole laundry list/bunch of other 3 letter agencies…
Audit the FED, and all other US Feral Gov’t Agencies…especially CONgress…
But…wish in one hand, piss in the other…
And see which one fills up first!!!
Strange how the U.S.SR. collapsed then the U.S.A. went Communist.
It is because Americans got lazy and sloppy, and took their freedoms for granted, thinking it would always be there, and that they would never have to fight to keep that which others shed blood and died for, that they are so willing to throw away. Americans took the “it cannot happen here” attitude, and got fat with never ending prosperity-turning most into monsters. Meanwhile, right under their nose, Communists started re-educating their children. “Give me the children” indeed. Look at them! They all think “Communism” equals free crap, and that (like AOC), it (Communism) will work “THIS TIME”, because THEY are trying it. Fools, every last damned one of them, because not a one of them have actually had to suffer under it. Meanwhile, places like Russia are laughing their asses off at how stupid we are.
The US has been on the fasttrack to commie hell since 1861.
‘Local Motors was an American automobile manufacturing company founded in 2007 by John B. Rogers Jr., based in Phoenix, Arizona. Local Motors was known for open-source motor vehicle designs, cutting-edge expertise in 3D-printing cars, and impressive self-driving vehicle technology. Local Motors stopped operations on 14 January 2022.’
https://housegrail.com/what-was-local-motors-and-the-3d-printed-olli-shuttle/
Ultimately, an open-source coalition to build functional, maintainable people’s cars again — not soulless, complexified Govco devices — is the only way forward. Let the quisling legacy makers wither and die. Then we can buy their production lines for a penny-on-the-dollar at the bankruptcy auction and start all over again.
Death to Government Motors.
Death to federal government.
I really like this Local Motors idea, Jim. This was a plan after my own heart. Of course it shut down before I ever heard of it. But you’re correct about functional, maintainable cars, and what should be produced are those driven by the desires of the drivers and owners, not the whims of bureaucrats.
I believe we’ve spoken here about a loophole to the regulations, and it had something to do with a cap on the number of vehicles a certain manufacturer could produce. Here, they had capped the number of any certain design to 2,000 units. Perhaps that is/was the magic number, and maybe they all had to be produced under the guise of [Car model here].LLC.
Also, Vehicular Sanctuary States… Not here in Az until we get a new Governor, but maybe next time, Gadget.
Might as well install tasers in the seats and steering wheels on all new cars. Maybe you’ll catch on to what tyranny is. You are free to do what we tell you to do, nothing more than that. Wretched police state tactics worm their way into any kind of system of government.
Digital technology weaponized to the hilt, your address is a known, just drop a smart bomb on your house from some launch site and you’re toast.
What is it other than soft tyranny? You are being told what to do at all times and are being watched at all times. In your car, anywhere, really. The tyrants in charge, the lunatics, intend to act maliciously, surreptitious as maliciousness is. The tyrants are dumb enough to be smart enough.
Fifteen minute gulags for everybody! You will never get to do what you want, only what you are told to do.
Tasers in seats and steering wheels will work like the card guessing test in the movie Ghostbusters, you’ll get a jolt anytime the fools feel like it.
Just have to beat everybody into submission, the morale should improve.
Police states for you, sucker.
“Your next new car will do the same – and maybe more.”
I think I spy a loophole!
Thanks, Eric. I hate this stuff. The first time I drove a car with the lane assistance the stupid thing kept trying to kill me through a construction zone!
“But it’s a temporary victory, probably. The technology surely has the ability to punch back, as by partially or even completely disabling the vehicle when the system detects an attempt to blindfold it. The car goes into “limp home” mode. Or it it just shuts itself off. That’s coming.”
Teslas do this -right now- you can guarantee other manufacturers are watching and learning from the guys who have been doing the Nannymobile® the longest & the best. Disable the driver spy camera in a Tesla and half the car’s features turns off straight away. They are not -quite- at the “pull over immediately” phase, but in a Tesla, again its as trivial as changing a single line of code to turn that on and have the car pull you over whether you like it or not.
I bet if someone made a tesla like car but open source and gave users full access to softvare feds would show up with 15 inspections a day of the factory floor.
Waco II
Maybe the next step is to wire the seat to give you a shock if you ignore the buzzers and flashing lights ….. or if the car detects you listening to Alex Jones or Tucker Carlson on the radio.
Please don’t give them any ideas, Mike.
This just in, as markets are in a tizzy over a hot inflation report this morning:
‘Car insurance was a major driver — no pun intended — of the surprisingly hot 0.4% rise in core CPI. On a monthly basis, car insurance prices rose by 2.6%, to stretch the year-over-year change to 22.2%.
‘The insurance industry said it’s been forced to raise prices after suffering from its worst performance in more than 20 years in 2022. Consumers, naturally, hate it. J.D. Power’s measure of consumer satisfaction with auto insurance saw the largest decline last year in 20 years.’ — marketwatch.com
Yet the POTUS entity remains hell-bent on writing off student loans for a very narrow demographic of borrowers under certain conditions, rather than protecting the large majority of voters who drive from the marauding insurance mafia … who in turn claim to be the passive victims of ‘soft on the outside’ vehicle designs.
Autos have become government-designed, government-taxed devices for tracking and mulcting the peasants. I don’t like them anymore. Every vehicle made in the past dozen years should be retired under a Cash for Crapola program.
Hi Jim,
I just saw that the Dow is down -495 points. Does anyone out there believe inflation is under control? A trip through Lowes, the grocery store, luxury clothing retailers, and housing showcases it is a hot mess.
Don’t even get me started on the Biden Administration’s complete disregard of the Supreme Court’s ruling that taxpayers taking the hit on student loans was unconstitutional. Nothing like having a Welder, who chose not to go to college and began working straight out of high school, be forced to pay some BA in Sexuality Studies by some 32 year old working behind the counter at Starbucks because they are trained for nothing else. It makes me ill.
Somehow parents have reasoned that sending their kid to a four year indoctrination camp for $60k a year is a justifiable expense.
My personal favorite is when they turn around and hand the kid the bill.
“Here you go Johnny, here is your $135K loan that will take you the next 20 years to pay back. You want a house, a car, a savings account? Sure, right after you reimburse the banks for your Philosophy Degree that for some reason doesn’t get you a job anywhere.”
Maybe my thinking is different, but it is my kid and if I believe they need a college degree then I pay for it. I didn’t get reimbursed for diapers, their formula, their clothing, their cars why would anyone believe that they should get reimbursed for their education.
Perhaps because they believe their govt education turns them into a tax slave ?
Or maybe just a lifetime provider of death machine tyranny via high yield 401k ?
‘Does anyone out there believe inflation is under control?’ — RaiderGirl
This week, CBO stated that the fedgov deficit for the first half of FY 2024 was $1.1 trillion, or $2.2 trillion annualized.
Axiomatically, inflation cannot be controlled when Big Gov is running an 8 percent of GDP deficit during an alleged economic expansion. Such runaway borrowing formerly only happened during the depths of recession. Now ‘we’ do it all year, every year — Wheeee!
Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio is urging a ‘beautiful deleveraging’ in which the Federal Reserve ‘prints money’ to inflate away the real value of the debt [1:18 video]:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgwMPcblwQE
We’re in good hands with Ray, who only wants the best for us simple little folk. /sarc
GOT GOLD?
An example of ‘beautiful deleveraging’ which appeared five minutes after I posted the above:
12:55 I couldn’t pay my $370,000 mortgage so I applied for a loan modification. Now I have a 52-year loan. Is this normal? MarketWatch
BWA HA HA HA … it’s not normal, it’s the ‘new normal.’
Line up, folks: this way to the egress!
Got silver, nitrocellulose, copper and lead?
Guaranteed college loans are just welfare payments with extra steps.
You think that anyone hanging out on college campuses could cut it in the real world? When that little research project shows some potential for a startup they bail to start their next Google but until then it’s hide out in academia.
What is even more sad and pathetic, RG, is that our tax dollars pay for the public education of these students, who end up thinking like this once they graduate high school. If they are not thoroughly dumbed down and Marxist thinking by then, they sure are once they work their way through a college or University. The never-ending, long hours of hard work being a mother is something no woman will ever be reimbursed for, and there is no amount of money she could be paid for that. And yet, you do not hear mothers out there screaming for payment for that. So yeah, I hear ya. These dumb fools need to go out, get a job, and pay their own loans. I would love to go back to school for something more, so I could get a better job, but damned…the price is just enough to keep me where I am for a very long time. But also, these days, I am not sure I could stand to be around 20-something, Communist-loving folk. They would drive me nuts.
Hi Shadow,
There is no guarantee that you will learn anything. In the olden days most of the professors had real world experience, they taught as a second job or after retiring. Today, it seems the “professors” have never left the university. How can you teach a subject that you have never practiced?
I believe we would learn more by being mentored by the person who has lived and breathed the career rather than anything a government funded indoctrination camp could instruct us on. Find the best in your field and apprentize (yes, I just made it up) under them. It would be the best thing you could do.
The other thing that gets me is the change in attitude between now and when we attended college. Back then, there were the affluent families whose parents could afford tuition and the middle or lower class families whose kids knew they were going to need to either earn a scholarship or attend a junior college for two years then less expensive state college. Or no college and learn a trade. I distinctly recall my parent’s suggesting I become a hair stylist. They couldn’t afford to send even one of their kids to college. You accepted your life circumstances and if you took out a student loan you worked and paid it back. Simple. No one owed you anything. I had to work my way through college. These days I see kids who seem to think it’s their right to have their college education paid for by someone else. The sense of entitlement still puzzles me. Is this the product of all the participation prizes and the you can do anything you want in life messages? Where is the pride and self sufficiency?
>This isn’t my country anymore – and I mourn the loss.
Amen. brother.
The country where I was born no longer exists, although there is an imposter country with entirely different values which dares to use its flag. A “false flag operation,” if you will.
Hi RS & RG ( And Adi), I agree with both of you. I knew what I was good at, and not, and found something that I liked to do for work, and well, it has worked-no pun intended. But also, RS, back in the day, we had Voc Ed. classes. Where-if you could not afford college-you could take technical classes that were cheaper, that would still help you get a better paying job than what flipping burgers at McDonald’s did. It seems that is not really promoted much anymore. A friend of mine, her daughter took welding classes in high school, and boom! Right out of high school was able to snag a job, no college required. But, she was one of the smart ones. And no, Adi….sadly, the country we all once loved and remembered is long gone. I wonder-if someone from the 1950’s and 60’s could look into the television, and see the lunacy of today, what their reaction would be?
Hi RG,
If Joke Biden is going to pay off the loans of all those students who should have known what they were in for then I would like to be reimbursed for what I paid towards our two kids who graduated in the 90’s. They both had (much smaller) student loans because my wife and I agreed that they should have some responsibility for their choices, and fortunately they both chose practical degrees that landed them good jobs. We then paid off the balance of their loans after each had made a year’s worth of payments. Not nearly the amount graduates are stuck with today, but a significant amount for back then.
So Joe, where’s my refund?
Good grief this is like a nasty combination of John Doe in the movie 7, Nurse Ratchet, Percy in “Green Mile” and Jack Nikolson in “The Shining” all rolled into one…ready to nag you right out of your vehicle permanently. But not before screwing you with no lube.
I have a friend whose 80 year old dad just retired a 90’s era lincoln & moved onto a ’24 something-or-another. He was flabbergasted with the HAL-9000 shouting “pay attention gawddammit” –as Eric said, while driving you’re not tunnel visioned & tend to look around.
Not sure if he’ll take the ’24 back & resurrect the 90’s car.
I recently drove my sister’s two-year old Corolla. Any time I exceeded the speed limit, the middle display between the speedo and the tach would turn red and the limit sign would appear. My parents were riding in the back and I said “piss off, car.” At least I could ignore it.
Also, their Highlander has the most ADHD-afflicted “lane-keeping” assist that would bark at me when I was in my lane! I quickly found the shut off all the nannies button and got some peace.
I miss the days when cars were like my Mk. IV Supra. Sure, she’ll allow you to kill yourself if you’re a stupid bastard with a heavy foot. But she’ll never rat you out to the authorities like new cars do these days.
I have a Corolla, but turned all the safety crap off, and have not had any issues since then. What cracks me up is the tire nanny. I go from a nice, warm garage to work, where it sits for hours in cold temperatures during the Winter. When it is really cold out, we all get that “square tire” thing going on (ha ha!). Nothing is more irritating than seeing the tire gage icon turn on when I first warm it up, only to shut off halfway home, or after the car has warmed up at home. Good grief, and if a tire looks low, I will check it. I mean, did someone serious get stuck on stupid, run a tire flat, and then sue someone? Is that why we have to have a tire nanny in new vehicles? I agree, at least my old car was not a snitch.
I mean, did someone serious get stuck on stupid, run a tire flat, and then sue someone?
Yes. See the Ford Explorer/Firestone Tire fiasco.
Here’s a pretty good rundown of the cluster:
https://www.carthrottle.com/news/under-pressure-story-infamous-ford-firestone-controversy
Thank you for the link, Yeti. I had forgotten about the Firestone controversy. I remember hearing about it, but did not remember too many of the details.
‘The full show is coming to a dealership near you, in a little more than a year from now.’ — eric
I respectfully demur, at least concerning alcohol sensors. They are not sufficiently accurate to be fit for purpose, and likely never will be. ‘Just give up,’ I urged in my public comment on the proposed rulemaking last month, citing the doubts vocalized by acting admin Ann Carlson when she announced the NHTSA’s fool’s errand last December:
“If it’s 99.9% accurate, you could have a million false positives,” Carlson said. “Those false positives could be somebody trying to get to the hospital for an emergency.”
https://tinyurl.com/3svh2wvk
On a family vacation when I was a kid, we were driving up I-25 toward Colorado Springs. A guy in the right lane gestured frantically: in the station wagon ahead of him, with a big, vertical, untinted greenhouse, no driver was visible. It looked to be rolling down the road on its own, like a runaway train.
Pulling even with the mystery vehicle, our noses glued to the glass, the trick became apparent: another guy was sprawled across the front bench seat, peering through the lower right corner of the windshield while steering with his extended left arm. His joker’s grin made clear that he was the brother of the confederate who was tailing him.
Distracted driving tech will put an end to such hooliganistic hijinks on the highway. As with government ID photos, smiling is no longer allowed (because it messes up facial recognition), and will be severely punished. You have been warned.
Hi Jim,
I agree – regarding the alcohol sensors. The gag is that drowsy driver (and similar) sensors will be used to establish “impairment.” I’ll put $50 on the tabke right now to back up my prediction. This stuff is here, already. And it is getting more and more aggressive.
What even happens if you spill vodka on sensor? Car disabled for couple of days or what?
Not on this specific topic, but I just got my latest demand for funds from the unsurance mafia.
In the past year the cost for insuring my 25 year old vehicle (that I drive about 250 miles per month to get groceries and occasionally see the doctor) has gone up 24%. That was after an increase of 27% the previous year. All hail unelected potus traitor Joe Buy-dem for 4% inflation in his rigged statistics (to cheat the elderly and mislead the proles.)
D.C. is utterly corrupt and can’t be reformed. NIFO.
At this rate, in 5 years I’ll have paid more for unsurance than I did for the car.
Hi John,
I bought my ’02 truck about 17 years ago for about $7,500. O have paid about $3,500 fort liability only insurance over that time, or about 40 percent as much as I paid for the vehicle, itself. I tire of paying…
Wonderful, just wonderful, a car with a built in mother-in-law! What’s next, a glass sensor that shuts off vehicle until windshield is thoroughly cleaned before use?
Hi Allen,
That’s coming. Because that’s inevitable. This is a mania – like sickness psychosis – and the measures get more and more extreme, because it’s the “logic” of it, once the underlying premise is accepted.
Don’t give them any ideas. Or..no driving for you because you have a rock chip too many.
So, the NAG system tells Captain Dunsell that you are too tired to drive, and you agree to pull over and rest. This is what is awaiting you in Spokane Washington with an encounter with your local AGW:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu0qZOPWiFk
The evil and cruel AGW will have to look in the mirror at one ugly face for the rest of his born days, which with any luck won’t be that many.
Imagine if this technology were used to verify that the driver is the actual owner of the vehicle. You’re a thief? Well, no ride for you. And if you’re one of the less nuanced criminals who simply breaks windows to smash and grab, well your photo has been uploaded to the crime stoppers web site, where it will be matched to your DL or other “credential” and the police will be dispatched to your last known location. If that location is where your mom lives, well, she’ll be brought in for harboring a criminal. You want to bail out mom or let her languish in jail for your misdeed?
While I’m generally against the panopticon, if it were used for actually protecting private property I’d be open to the arguments in favor. But like all things post Vietnam, the regular man who might not share the same goals as the Emerald City must be brought into line. These are the enemies of the state, not the petty thief. Because the thief doesn’t want empire, therefore he isn’t a threat to the powerful. And in fact can become a pawn or ally to move an agenda.
“We have to destroy the republic in order to save it.”
Regardless, the buyer of the vehicle should have the choice to buy the nanny “features” or refuse to buy them. Only those who want the nanny should have to pay for it.
Eric: Here’s a a delicious crushed cricket bar for you to nosh on in the meanwhile. It is the will of Landru.
Sorry to say but I’ll stick with barbecued pork on home made/ baked bread.
As for the invasive technology in new cars that along with ugly styling is why I drive old cars and trucks. As you said Eric; since your drivers license is now your ID and the AGW’s only purpose is to collect fines for BS driving infractions as opposed to actual unsafe driving. I suspect a future update will levy the fines automatically if the car thinks you are not driving your car properly.
As for the courts, I watched one TV show (actual court room, not made up stuff) where a guy got a weekend in jail and a couple thousand dollar fine for drunk driving(multiple convictions previously for drunk driving). I don’t remember how bad his driving was but you would think at some point public caning of repeat drunk drivers might work out better as a deterrence.
Like most things, there’s a dark little corner of crony capitalism that’s sprung up around DUI convictions. Starting with the lawyers who specialize in getting their clients out of jail. Then there’s the mandatory classes and “programs” that attempt to reform the “old drunk” into salvation. And the breathalyzer installation companies -oh no you can’t just go out and buy one at O’Riley, it must be installed by a licensed and approved shop for thousands of dollars.
Not to mention the mandatory fines and fees to get your license back.
Then once you do get back behind the wheel you get to carry high risk insurance for YEARS, and again that has to be approved by the state. And not every company offers it, so your choices are limited too. And if you are pulled over again, that history doesn’t go away, so the cop will likely look askance at you and probably be a little less lenient for speeding.
All because you blew a hot test at a check point after a late supper. Or worse, you refused a test, which in some states means you are assumed drunk and immediately surrender your license – which the cop doesn’t necessarily tell you at the time.
And no, I’ve never had this happen to me, but a coworker did get busted and I heard all about it. Ended up losing his job too, since he had to drive a company vehicle for it.
DUI convictions just penalize the poor slaves…the richer slaves….quite often the traitor slaves who are better paid, because they assist the slave owners…enforcers, tax collectors or the politically connected….can pay a lawyer $10,000 and get off the DUI charge…..
Getting a good outcome in court requires money and connections…
If you are a more productive slave…pay more tax….you get benefits from the slave owners….this is an incentive for slaves to work harder…pay more tax…
Drunx drink no matter what else they appear to do. Blackout drunx cant recall doing so.
Hi Eric,
The problem stems from driving license itself. Once you give government a finger it swallows you whole.
I don’t know how they made opposing driving licence “radical” but driving in a current world should be a right. Not a privilege. If they want it to be a privilege then people should rebel by using horses on the road and blocking all traffic. Let the elites supply chains slow down to 1800 levels. It is immoral to take peoples money to build roads and then not allow it for them. If cars are not safe then bring on the horses. No one needed a license to ride a horse.
Hi Pupet:
Amongst other things they could institute a minimum speed for use of roadways. They would of course set this higher than a horse could sustain. After they take away our personal transportation I wouldn’t want to be the driving under overpasses if you know what I mean.
As for immorality that is government today. Coercing people with threats of violence and theft of property is all they have left.
It’s all they ever had. Without the presumptive authority to kill you if you disobey, there is no government.
Yes goverment is an evil entity. That treats public land like a private playground. At least regarding public land everyone should get a vote. I own small amount of stocks and every once in a while I get to vote for something. Not saying coorproations are perfect but at least you have some say. I bet ton of shit wouldn’t pass based on common sense of average poeple at least.
Do you want your car to not be road legal in future?
I cant imagine anyone saying yes.