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NTSB Recommendation: Unreasonable Search and Seizure
Ostensibly as a result of a horrible fatal head-on car crash in California, the National Traffic Safety Board is recommending a new “feature” to be installed in all new cars. That would be an “alcohol detector,” so every car would have the kind of ignition interlock system now required by some states for convicted drunk drivers. Every driver, in every vehicle, would essentially have to take some kind of test, either by touch or breath, to make sure he or she has not been drinking. So, without your consent, the Government would essentially live in your car, collecting data on you every time you turn on the ignition.
I can think, off the top of my head, of dozens of reasons that this would be a violation of your Fourth Amendment rights. Starting with “guilty until proven innocent” by your having to prove that you are not drunk before having use of your own property (violates due process as well as search and seizure). The government mandating installation of any monitoring equipment in your car could lead to their being able to disable it at will (if your car is an extension of your home, might this be modern-day “quartering of troops” in your home?). Also, the article mentions that current systems require a monthly subscription fee, so not only would you not have control of your own vehicle, you’d have to pay for the privilege of not having control!
Here’s a quote from the Fox News article linked above.
NHTSA is already working on the topic as the infrastructure bill signed into law by President Biden in 2021 included a requirement for all vehicles to be equipped with passive alcohol interlocks, which would make them inoperable if a high blood alcohol level is detected. The law dictates that regulations be developed within three years and gives automakers two years to comply, but allows the Department of Transportation to extend the periods, if technically necessary.
Just another reason to buy your new car now, and not later.
Published in Law
I will be visiting the local dealer this week to discuss my new car. Buy your new gas-powered vehicle now, before they make them illegal.
You probably shouldn’t even get a “hybrid” because it might become extremely expensive or flat-out impossible to replace the batteries and related technology.
Coming soon: closing gas stations because, of course, the environment.
The idea that humanity exists in its current state due to few EMP occurrences is not a comforting thought.
EMP events happen. There is no way to know if one will hit later today, next week or in the 22nd Century.
And yes, we would be living in a world very similar to the 1850’s, except farmers no longer have horse drawn plows to do the planting of crops. People do not have horses to allow them to travel. (Okay there are horse owners but in very small numbers.)
In Calif, with all the many blackouts we have lived through, it becomes very apparent how much depends on an electrical grid. Gas pumps at gas stations do not work. Which means once someone’s generator runs out of fuel, there is no more.
EMP also arises owing to coronal mass ejections from the sun. The last big one melted telegraph wires across North America.
Very aware of that, and I thought it was such an implicitly understood situation I did not mention it. But without mentioning it, it is fair to assume that anyone reading my statement might think I was referring to a terrorist-sponsored EMP event.
Past EMP events could also have referred to the effects of atmospheric nuclear tests, but I will retire my inner pedant for awhile before someone threatens to non-vax me.
I would never buy a hybrid or electric car. New vehicle will be an Audi Q3, which uses regular gas (my Acura RDX uses premium).
This story on American Thinker has some excellent statistics, which I may add to my “clean energy” post on my pwn blog.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/09/the_hidden_truths_about_your_electric_car.html
You think people would stop trying to get fuel from the underground tanks, if the “official” pumps stop working?
You think it’s a good idea to get a car that depends on parts coming from Germany?
And the computer chips etc in it, still come from China.
I have a BMW that calls for premium. Only recently did I start paying attention to the wide variation among town gas stations on how they price premium relative to regular. The station with the cheapest regular is not necessarily the cheapest premium, and most gas stations do not post prominently the price for premium. The price per gallon spreads I saw yesterday morning were:
Mobil: $0.80
Murphy (WalMart): $0.60
QT: $0.50
Try your local Costco, if you have one. No one has cheaper gas. That’s where we both fill up all the time now.
If I worried about that, I’d never get a new car, since they all have computer chips made in China (and Malaysia, and Indonesia,…). And yes, I have no problem buying a car made in Germany.
We live in an interconnected world. No matter the brand or where the car is “built” (meaning the final assembly), it is going to have parts in it from probably three or more continents. Probably a couple dozen countries.
It looks like the Q3 is not made in Germany. Like many car companies that sell cars all over the world, Audi has factories in several countries. The Q3 is apparently built in two different factories, one in China and one in Hungary. The linked article doesn’t say which factory builds the ones sent to North America.
Yes but I suspect that even a Toyota assembled in Kentucky probably has fewer foreign and problematic parts than an Audi assembled in Germany. And fewer exotic features that could screw up too, at least if you get a more basic model.
Personally, I think if RushBabe is going to get an Audi, it should be an R8 Spyder. I think she would enjoy a V10 engine.
Yeah, great, in a state with 60mph speed limit! And I drive an SUV that’s higher off the ground for easier ingress and egress.