State GPS Tracking Your Mileage and Your Movements

CNSNews.com ^ | 01/02/2003 | Marc Morano

[Dr Warmoose]

Which state is going to get the tax revenue using this approach?

its not spelled 'state' its spelled 'satrapy'.

[Dr Warmoose]

Sooner. The commercial vehicles in this country are under attack by the DOT to install "black boxes" in order to monitor location, speed, idle time, driver hours of service, origin points etc.... Once this system is set up, then the transition to private passenger cars is inevitable.

Don't forget the radio controlled switch that allows the authorities to disable the engine.

For the children...

[EBUCK]

Thanks you for all of your information...and I assure you that it won't be used wrongly upon others...low power and minimal R umbrella (10metersq).

Thanks again,

EBUCK

[EBUCK]

The problem here in Oregon is that we won't approve another tax hike...we're bent over as it is..

They have to create a crisis, not of their doing of course, that needs to be rectified. And the crisis is...Fuel efficient cars are cheating the state.

Now alterior motives could run for miles..

EBUCK

[EBUCK]

We get to use them (studs) from Oct to April I think.

EBUCK

[wcbtinman]

I don't think anyone really has a handle on this. It makes sense that trucks would just naturally create more wear and tear on the roads than an automobile, but consider the purpose of the truck. One truck delivers many times more passengers or freight than any automobile. Heavy trucks also pay much more fuel taxes, due to a higher percentage (in FL, its about 48 cents per gallon) of the price of diesel fuel being highway taxes, than any gasoline powered vehicle.

The correct solution is to build roads capable of handling the loads. I think that most roads are designed as such, but all of the finished roads that I see are later sampled and found to be built in a substandard manner. There are thousands of DOT vs Contractor lawsuits all over America over just such problems. I know of at least two major projects here in central FL (Interstates) where contractors are being sued by DOT after completion of the project with areas of these roads requiring significant remediation efforts within weeks of them opening the road.

[wcbtinman]

"Don't forget the radio controlled switch that allows the authorities to disable the engine..."

Although the authorities don't have it, yet, such a device exists on newer Class 8 trucks in the form of engine and drivetrain telemetry that can be accessed and adjusted in real time by the engine manufacturers or service centers. In some trucks, the on board computer is able to detect or recieve via satellite, evidence of a severe engine (and I assume a drivetrain) problem and with a short notification period to the driver through an audible and visual warning, shut the engine down.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Forgive my ignorance, but a GPS is a receiver, not a transmitter. I heartily oppose every aspect of this proposal, but one might imagine a GPS unit with limited software that does (so they would claim) nothing more than integrate the mileage traveled while within a given boundary, kind of like the ones that probably exist to tell you how many miles you hiked in a day.

It would seem doable, if you trusted the manufacturer no to let it record any additional data that could be downloaded later. Let's start by putting them in all the cars (personal and business) of the governor, state police, and transportation bureaucrats, and let the downloading of data be done by an independent company with a charter to publish every byte. We'd learn more about the system that way.

[Atlas Sneezed]

As interpreted in my post above, the same result could be achieved with an inertial system, but probably at more expense.

I think that a mileage tax would make more sense if you did it with an ODO check. But then again, why not just cover it with higher gas taxes, instead of creating a whole new bureaucracy? (Which is probaly the reaction they're going for.)

[Reaganwuzthebest]

its not spelled 'state' its spelled 'satrapy'.

Beware, the "eye of the king" is watching. Genuflect when you mention his name.

[EBUCK]

You're not ignorant, that scent was emenating from my end...


"Let's start by putting them in all the cars (personal and business) of the governor, state police, and transportation bureaucrats, and let the downloading of data be done by an independent company with a charter to publish every byte. "

Sounds great to me but I'm betting that it would only happen after they submit to UA's!

EBUCK

[EBUCK]

Well, we've been resisting new/greater taxes over here for a while with quite a bit of success.

As a matter of fact, there is a special ballot coming up on the 28th to raise taxes that is expected to fail.

I believe that they are attempting to create a fault in the system (not theirs of course) that requires new methods. I thinnk that's called the "end around".

EBUCK

[Axenolith]

Thats dumb, then they wouldn't know where you are all the time... </sarcasm>

[Political Junkie Too]

...semi's will cause worse damage in a much shorter time period, and they are not paying the amount of taxes necessary to account for the amount of damage they are doing.

When I lived in Florida, the Florida Turnpike (a toll road) used a card system instead of today's pay booths every few miles. The cards had different rates based on the number of axles on the car. A big-rig has 6 axles as opposed to a passenger car which has 2. A double big-rig has up to 9 (I'm thinking the cab has 1 front 2 rear, the load has 1 front 2 rear).

Certainly, a vehicle with 6 axles causes more damage than one with only 2.

-PJ

[Charles Martel]

Robo-Cop incarnate hell...

Hypothetical situation..

You post to FR regularly, you are on the list no doubt about it.

Your GPS ID is called up 400,000 times a day to "check on your activities"

You stop in at a buddies house to BS and watch the game, he's on the list too!! (of course without the 4th, USA Patriot act, you don't have the right to know)

You guys get raided for subversive activities. Never to be heard from again, off to Siberia you go for re-education.

I actually thought about posting a similar hypothetical, but the recollection of that rental car company turned my attention towards the obvious revenue-generating possibilities. What you describe is not outside the realm of possibility, though.

As I said, this has the potential to go *way* beyond mere road-use tax calculations. In fact, the system would likely be prohibitively expensive if it was used only for that purpose. I'm sure that "RoboCop" will eventually be tasked with monitoring our activities, in addition to citing speeders, gross pollutors, you name it.

[blackie]

"In my state we have the vehicle inspection stickers that must be renewed each year. If they are gonna tax me based on my annual mileage then just look at the gosh damn sticker with last years mileage on it and do the math versus making me also pay for a GPS-SAT WhatchmacallitPOS Socialist tewl !"

There are no vehicle inspections in Oregon except in Portland for emissions.

If they banned snow tires, road damage would go down dramatically!

[blackie]

"geez, you mean that lady I work with that lives in California but registers her car in Oregon for $40/year might get caught. poor baby."

Wrong, it's $15/year for cars/suv's/pickups and $9/year for motorcycles.

[denydenydeny]

Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman

[FrontlinesofFreedom]

Resistance is futile....

[FrontlinesofFreedom]