Narrow Way Cafe

Orphangelical

“You meet saints everywhere. They can be anywhere. They are people behaving decently in an indecent society.”

Kurt Vonnegut

“Every saint has a past, every sinner a future.”

Oscar Wilde

The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They fail to alter their views to fit the facts. Instead, they alter facts to fit their views.

Dr Who.

Share the Road. Resources, Expense and Choice

Dgg

How to evolve infrastructure taxes and the cause of freedom, simultaneously. Sharing the road with technology at the core. Summer travel rant.

Our place of residence isn’t far from the famous coastal Highway 101 . This time of year, $80,000 trucks pulling $150,000 RV’s not only crowd the road, the owners drive as if they think the road is a speedway. Gross inconsideration with these people rushing to secure campsites is the rule. Not that locals drive any saner. I think visitors take their cues from residents, actually.

I wondered: Why should I pay the same road, fuel and insurance costs as an ignoramus who disobeys the rules, driving like a maniac?

Let’s fix this with technology.

What I’m thinking is – drivers licenses would be tied to vehicle GPS (RFID, perhaps.) Vehicles would not start absent a connected, valid, financially viable account. Every choice I make thereafter is associated with licensing costs, fuel taxes, insurance and privilege fees.

As long as I drive by the rules (all of them, turn signals included, no sudden braking, no tailgating, no absurd lane changes… etc.) my costs for infrastructure, fuel and insurance are minimums. Or zero! Hang on. Give the notion a chance…

I can choose to drive fast, recklessly, dangerously … and by tracking my vehicle and it’s orientation relative to everyone else – an algorithm can calculate my fees.

  • Lead foot? Pay heavier gas taxes.

  • Overloaded? Pay heavier infrastructure fees (truckers.)

  • Everyone hates the DMV at licensing time. The system could eliminate the wait.

My subscription to the “Automated Auto Plan” would deduct the costs for each mile I drive.

Parking fees, tolls, ferry fees … all of them rolled into an itemized account. Premiums dependent on what I drive, how I drive and the assessed value of those privileges.

I think that being exhausted by continuously surviving idiot drivers has made me ready to imagine a future where idiocy is a choice that comes with actual costs.

Until then, assholes with cars can endanger the rest of us, almost without consequence. Highway patrols are never where they’re needed, are they? At least, I’ve never been passed by a dummy illegally and seen them pulled over. What if that choice cost $1000? Go ahead, put your foot in it, pass me and pay my gas taxes too.