In order to squelch a rumor running rampant over the information superhighway, New York transportation authorities have been forced to deny that they're plotting to use the state's "E-Z Pass" technology to thwart speeders.
That's the good news. The bad news -- at least for lead-foots -- is that it's only a matter of time before this rumor becomes reality (although it must be pointed out that I've been saying this for 20 years).
From the Syracuse Post-Standard:
Reports that the state Thruway Authority will start using its E-Z Pass to calculate when people get on and off the toll road and issue speeding tickets are false, officials said.
The rumor started circulating through e-mail and has since spread, said Sarah Kampf, public relations officer with the agency.
Here's a passage from the rumor-fueling, now-denied e-mail that landed in my inbox:
New York State started a pilot program upstate north of Albany on the Northway to catch speeders using the Easy Pass (stet) system. Recording devices were installed at intervals along the highway. Once an Easy Pass equipped vehicle passes, the device registers the account number and the time. Same is again registered at the next "check-point." Based upon the distance between the register points and the posted speed limit, the state is sending speeding tickets in the mail to the guilty persons.
Because every driver does not have Easy Pass, the State is "perplexed" as what to do to impose the system state-wide. The solution has been found. Soon all new vehicle registration stickers will have a metal strip or chip imbedded in same. This will take the place of the Easy Pass system as stated above.
BIG BROTHER IS ALIVE AND WELL.
Pass this along to every one you know.
The technology exists. All that is missing is the will -- some might call it the gall -- of state authorities. Sure, such a system would be tremendously unpopular -- imagine the hue and cry from truckers alone -- but it would also be a golden goose for state coffers and a sure-fire means of reducing highway fatalities (road rage may rise, however, so those deaths would need to be considered).
In the meantime, a New York Thruway spokesman has a word of advice for drivers:
Any worried motorists who have heard the false reports should just stick to the speed limit and they won't have any problems, said Guy Holbert of the Thruway Authority office in Syracuse.
Can't you just see the smirk on the guy's face when he said that?
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Really?
You think this would actually reduce road rage??
No, you got the wrong idea ...
... because I wrote it poorly. Fixed above. Thanks.
EZPass Rumor
I just received the email today but it had additional paragraph's leading the sheep to beleive that it is realy really true:
EZ Pass Information:
New York State started a pilot program upstate north of Albany on the
Northway to catch speeders using the Easy Pass system. Recording
devices were installed at intervals along the highway. Once an Easy Pass equipped vehicle passes, the device registers the account number
and the time. Same is again registered at the next 'check-point'.
Based upon the distance between the register points and the posted speed limit, the state is sending speeding tickets in the mail to the guilty persons.
Because every driver does not have Easy Pass, the State is 'perplexed'
as what to do to impose the system state-wide. The solution has been found. Soon all new vehicle registration stickers will have a metal strip or chip imbedded in same. This will take the place of the Easy Pass system as stated above. When a vehicle passes the registering device, the strip will relay all the information.
This is not fictional. New York State contracted with VERIZON to
install the system. The system has already been installed and the
entire Bronx River Parkway in Westchester County has been 'wired' for
when the new system begins. Once the State makes the new program
public and advises all motorists of the potential for numerous speeding tickets, it will also reveal that the system has already been installed.
Another reason that will be given for the new system is to enable the authorities to track stolen vehicles, to trace kidnap victims, to monitor and trace suspected criminals and terrorists, etc.
BIG BROTHER IS ALIVE AND WELL.
That's why I stop so often
That's why I stop so often at the rest stops on my way to Syracuse. ;) So it doesn't look like I'm speeding...yes I'm a lead foot.
The Fallacy Continues
In your blog you state that the feared abuse of EZ-Pass systems would create speed tracking systems that would force drivers to slow down, and would be "a sure-fire means of reducing highway fatalities..". It infuriates me that the reduced-speed-reduces-fatalities fallacy still exists, and that it makes continual repeat appearances, being spoken by highway safety pundits without a thought as to the reality of the statement.
The advertising campaign slogan often associated with this fallacy is "Speed Kills", plastered on billboards, bumper stickers and insurance company pamphlets nation-wide. Let the truth be known and spoken widely: COLLISIONS KILL!
If speed alone killed people, airliners and most aircraft could not exist; people would die rolling down runways before aircraft ever became airborne; modern automobiles would be outlawed as lethal weapons and automobile manufacturers would cease to exist due to liability concerns; sanctioned automobile race events would be public gatherings to watch drivers commit ritual mass suicide. Space exploration would be the sole purview of robotic exploration vehicles and man would never have reached orbit. Since NONE of these is remotely true, it is proof that the slogan "Speed Kills" is an alarmist propaganda tool.
So here's the real deal: LACK OF DRIVING SKILL KILLS PEOPLE!
Let's turn our automobile licensing system into a means of assuring a reasonable minimum level of driving skill, rather than being another tax burden on citizens to fatten municipal and state coffers and an inaccurate accounting tool. Get the people who simply cannot drive safely over 60MPH off of highways where they don't belong and keep them on secondary roads. Get the people who cannot drive safely over 30MPH completely off of our roadways. These actions WILL ACTUALLY reduce traffic fatalities.
Skilled drivers appropriately licensed should be allowed to drive 100MPH and more in today's cars on limited-access highways, based on their individual abilities. The current system of worthless licensing and arbitrary speed limiting is an unconscionable lack of concern for public safety and an excessive restriction to the freedom of individuals who have appropriate skill. All other licensing works this way, why not the most common licensing in use today? Before they were choked by arbitrary speed limiting, Germany's unlimited-speed Autobahns were far safer per mile traveled than U.S. highways with their arbitrary speed limits. A huge part of that was because unskilled drivers were not allowed on the roads, because getting a driver's license required a lot of time and skill and actually was a certification that the person could drive safely. None of the "Show me your birth certificate - Hand over $50 - There's your license" nonsense that's currently done in the U.S.
Once that's done, go ahead, use your E-Z Pass system to regulate the highways. Use it to keep drivers who are unlicensed and unskilled for highway speeds off of the highways where they are going to be killing people.
Fabtastic points...
Don't forget, that today's 55MPH speed limit is the same as it was in the 50's! Despite such safety advances as seatbelts, airbags, antilock brakes, vehicle stability control, crumple zones, RADIAL TIRES, safety glass etc etc etc.
The fact that a fully loaded semi, traveling at night in the rain has the same speed limit as a Ferrarri on a dry clear day, belies the unfairness of our transportation system. That a 16 year old with a freshly printed license is considered an equal driver to someone with 20-30 years of skill and practice, is patently inaccurate and unfair.
I have gotten a number of speeding tickets in my life, I have had my license taken away a number of times (when I was young) for speeding. I lost my insurance because I was 'too high a risk' but ask me how many accidents I've been in? (3) and how many I have CAUSED (0), and the case against speeding starts to fall apart. I know people who have had over TEN accidents, and have never had their licensed pulled. Fairness is NOT inherent in our system.
Speed doesn't kill, inattention, poor judgement, and inexperience kill. Speed can make the accident worse, but it is almost NEVER the sole cause.
But speed is the easiest to prove, so that's the criteria they use to judge who is a good and who is a bad driver.
Speed Kills
Rick,
Your diatribe about speed by itself not causing any deaths is so obvious as to be beside the point. The speed at which one is traveling when an impact occurs DOES relate to the fatality level of the accident. This has been well proven over a long period of time. 55 miles per hour was selected as the national speed limit because, when a car impacts a stationary object at 55 miles per hour, the occupants of that car have excellent chance of living through the accident, if they have practiced other safety rules to do with seat belts and the like. When the speed upon impact increases, the likelihood of fatality increases at a rate far exceeding the rate of the increase in speed itself.
To anyone who thinks as poorly about the driving skills of those around you as you seem to, why on earth would you take so great a chance on the skills of those drivers around as to speed in their presence? If their skills don't meet your standards when traveling at normal speeds, what on earth makes you think their skills are going handle the fact that you are going faster than they expect?
I am on the road four hours every weekday. I travel on busy roadways for most of that time. Because of the sheer number of people involved, I assume that a certain proportion of them are going to do stupid things without warning during my trip. My driving skills take that into account so when it happens (as it inevitably will) their stupidity or inattention does not involve me in an accident. Those are the skills I would brag about.
I would argue against the E-Z Pass system being used to verify speed, not because of any feeling that the speed should not be regulated, but because there are cases of the Pass not registering correctly on a regular basis right now. That's not going to magically get better if we add something more to the system without making sure the system is working close to perfectly before we add the new challenge.
Speek Kills
You memory is either flawed or you are too young to remember the real reason for 55. It was Congresses feebal answer to the OPEX emnbargo. Without getting too far off the topic 30 years later we are facing this issue again so much for leadership. You are correct that the force of the impact does incresae fatalities. This has to some degree been mitigated by exploding profalactics (air bags). I would however agree and argue that ANY system other than direct human observation be avioded the photo cameras employed in certian locations have only had the effect of increasing the collections of fines. Many authorities have already expressed that the raising or methods of increasing fines is a time honored way to generate revenue. Profit fron the enforcement of law can only lead to further teriany and accelerated loss of freedoms that we cherish and hold dear.
Although everything you have
Although everything you have pointed out is valid, Rick, I think that getting driver certification in Germany costs about $2000 and takes many months of honeing one's driving skills to be certified by the instructor to take the driving tests. And then one is faced with speed limits on most of the Autobahn.
In order for that system to work here, our mass transportation systems would definitely have to be greatly improved, so that all those people who would not be able to afford a $2000 driver's license, or could not pass the driving tests, would have alternate, decent, relatively fast ways of getting from point A to point B.
All that being said, I think that we would all benefit by having a licensing system ala Germany.
Having a decent mass transportation system would get a lot of people off the road, making the roads even more safe for those driving on them.
Alternate, decent,
Alternate, decent, relatively fast ways of getting from point A to point B exists. It is called bus or TAXI.