Video: Good news — world’s drunk-driving problems solved

Let’s see: in the last decade or so we have had driver’s side airbags, passenger side airbags and most recently side curtain air bags legislatively required adding several thousand dollars to the cost of each new vehicles; we have CAFE mandates and emission mandates adding who knows how much to the cost; we now have tire pressure monitoring systems required by the feds on new vehicles adding another thousand or more to each new vehicle. There are numerous other items such as ABS and traction control systems which are being considered to be made mandatory. I have read analyses by people far smarter than be saying that as much as 25% of the cost of new cars is directly attributable to federal regulation. Why can’t you buy a new basic transportation vehicle for $7,500 anymore? The imperial federal gov’t's mandates prevent the auto industry from making a car that affordable anymore.

When seat belts, tempered safety glass, air bags, tire pressure monitoring, ABS, traction control and such were introduced they were all private industry innovations. Most all of those things are now mandated on vehicles by the imperial federal government and the rest are being considered for mandate. Sure, legislative creep doesn’t happen, right?

When seat belt laws started passing the feds encouraged all states to pass such laws. Then the feds withheld highway funds from any states that didn’t have such laws. Blackmail worked. But of course there isn’t legislative creep. So the feds said that now they want seat belt requirements to be a primary offense, something rejected by voters in most states. But again, the imperial federal gov’t used their threat of force to confiscate money from the citizens and then blackmail the states. Nope, no legislative creep there. Never happens.

Then there is the more case in point, the DUI laws. Some woman at MAAD pulled the .08 number out of her butt and started waving it around as a way to make people feel good and the feds, once again, threatened the states with withholding of highway funds unless they passed a .08 DUI limit and there ya go. I have looked for but have been unable to find a single shred of evidence that .08 does anything more than criminalize a lot more people who are no less safe than a distracted driver, eg a MAAD member with her 4 screaming kids int her SUV while she sips her double latte’ and puts on her mascara (a typical profile of the vehicles that routinely cause near collisions in my town).

Legislative creep, the steady erosion of our rights and the complete and utter disregard for State’s Rights most definitely happens.

I’ll give one more reason I would never buy one of those cars. In my immediate family in the last 6 months between 4 late model vehicles all well cared for, with less than 70,000 miles, we have spent over $3k on vehicle repairs, 90% of that for engine electronics and related labor. Can you imagine how expensive it will be to repair that vehicle. And if those sensors go out I assume that the vehicle would default to inoperable to prevent someone bypassing the system by vandalizing it. I can see it. On vacation, driving 8 hours away with the 2 kids in the backseat, in the middle of nowhere, 10 pm on a Sunday, no cell phone signal and suddenly the car shuts down. You coast off to the side of the road, car won’t even crank, stupid video tells you that there is alcohol in the car so it shut down. By 2 am the car is dropped off at the dealership and you are in the motel. By 9 am the dealership calls and tells you the sensors on your drunk driving prevention system have fried and it will be 3 days to get more in and it is going to coast $2,500.00 to make the car operable. Hurrah, happy family vacation!!! Yep, not buying a car with that retarded system on it EVER!

deepdiver on August 14, 2007 at 2:42 PM