Over the last century, the Land of the Free has slowly transformed into a land governed by endless laws, largely by cracking down on vices instead of actual crimes, creating a society that would render us all criminals if our behavior were constantly observed. Meanwhile, the state has steadily expanded its use of mass surveillance, largely under the pretext of fighting “terror.”
This is a toxic mixture.
Bad roads is my first thought too. The roads in my state are horrible. I tried one of the progressive “snapshot” devices when I was younger, and that thing acted like I was in an accident a few times juat because of potholes and bad pavement joints. So many states would have disabled cars on the road if they are too sensitive with their little kill switch.
A decently designed device would be able to account for bad roads by comparing vibration in the X and Y axis versus the yaw and roll of the vehicle. Progressive’s device isn’t that.
If the system they end up designing is capable of accurately telling the difference, then it seems to me to be a good safety feature. Otherwise, sure, it is a terrible idea.
The question being presented isn’t “Is it possible to design a solution?” The question is “Will the corporate stooges involved bother to implement that solution?” As shown by the Progressive doodad, they probably won’t.
Corporations won’t. But the proposed system is being designed by the government.
The same government that said “Big vehicles can pollute more” which caused our SUV and big truck epidemic? That government? You’ll have to forgive me for thinking they will just have the auto industry design it for them, like they have with laws surrounding fuel mileage and pollution standards.
Would you be saying this in response to regulation requiring seatbelts?
Does a seat belt allow someone to remotely disable the car? Try a different strawman.
This policy doesn’t remotely shut down cars either.