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The above link is to an article in the 7/20/09 Dallas Morning Snooze.
Texas is the 15th state where Progressive Insurance, HQ'd in Ohio, is soliciting
motorists to install tracking devices on their vehicles so that Progressive can gather
vast quantities of data on their driving.

Drivers may save 10-15% on each 6 month policy if their driving habits match up with
what Big Brother likes to see. Of course on the one hand they give you some chicken
feed in return for your privacy. But they then charge you $5 a month for the monitoring
device.

One of the target groups that Big Brother is after are drivers who put on less than 9,000
miles a year.

In this technical age where we are aware that we are being monitored in many secret ways,
why would anyone willingly sign up to be micro managed by a heartless corporation???

surprise_i'm_armed wrote:
In this technical age where we are aware that we are being monitored in many secret ways,
why would anyone willingly sign up to be micro managed by a heartless corporation???

Well seeing as though you asked.

• Leftist who like supporting leftist companies.
  Folks that want the government to run medical care and have access to all our medical records
  Those who are disapointed that some 1984 is just getting here.
  Those who don't drive much because they don't have jobs.
  People with poor memories get to call their insurance companies to find out where they were last night.

Picture this:

1. Your on board computer registers your speed.

2. The GPS logs where the car is.

3. The sattelite internet datalink pulls the speed limit for that particular stretch of road.

4. The onboard computer notices that you are speeding.

5. A federally mandated email is sent to the local state,county, or federal law office.

6. A ticket is generated and emailed back to the owner of the vehicle.

7. If the ticket isn't paid on time, the car won't start.

Since red light cameras have obviously been "accepted", one must conclude that the above scenario is not far off. The technology is already here

It will be a cold July day in Houston before I allow any insurance company to monitor me.

TDDude wrote:Picture this:

1. Your on board computer registers your speed.

2. The GPS logs where the car is.

3. The sattelite internet datalink pulls the speed limit for that particular stretch of road.

4. The onboard computer notices that you are speeding.

5. A federally mandated email is sent to the local state,county, or federal law office.

6. A ticket is generated and emailed back to the owner of the vehicle.

7. If the ticket isn't paid on time, the car won't start.

Since red light cameras have obviously been "accepted", one must conclude that the above scenario is not far off. The technology is already here


It will be a cold July day in Houston before I allow any insurance company to monitor me.

People are buying Governmement Motor cars that have a system pretty simular to this called Northstar.

Liberty wrote:

TDDude wrote:Picture this:

1. Your on board computer registers your speed.

2. The GPS logs where the car is.

3. The sattelite internet datalink pulls the speed limit for that particular stretch of road.

4. The onboard computer notices that you are speeding.

5. A federally mandated email is sent to the local state,county, or federal law office.

6. A ticket is generated and emailed back to the owner of the vehicle.

7. If the ticket isn't paid on time, the car won't start.

Since red light cameras have obviously been "accepted", one must conclude that the above scenario is not far off. The technology is already here


It will be a cold July day in Houston before I allow any insurance company to monitor me.

People are buying Governmement Motor cars that have a system pretty simular to this called Northstar.

OnStar.

BTW, just as an added bonus, Progressive Insurance posts a fully compliant 30.06 sign at its regional office in Arlington.

Coming up next, micro-chip implants, they're not just for pets.

Red light cameras have one purpose: generating revenue for the city. They are also unsafe, causing as much as 900% increase in rear-end collisions. The article says there is legislation to ban red light cameras working it's way through the congress.

I think you will see fines generated on toll roads for passing through the RF gates faster than the speed limit would allow before the scenario proposed. The kicker is, they'd just deduct it from your tolltag account since they already have the money in hand. Fortunately, it seems our legislature is on our side, for the time being. Speed Camera Ban, which strikes me as a legal corollary.

On the one hand, I wouldn't mind being charged accordingly for my personal driving habits and not my statistical grouping - and I could see real benefit to people actually being held accountable for the way they drive. But I think my signature says it all.

I don't think microchips will fly. Really, I don't. Maybe I have too much faith in America to draw a line at some point on some thing and tell Uncle Sam: not no, but @#%$ no! I just wish we'd get there sooner than later...

Many states (Oregon is one I know of right off the top of my head) are trying to implement a similar GPS tracking system so they can tax cars based on the miles they are driven. Since cars are supposed to be getting better gas mileage that means they will be using less gas, which means the government entities will be getting less tax dollars from the sale of gas. They need to raise tax revenue somehow, so they decided the best way is just to tax drivers based on the number of miles they drive. And the only way to do that is to "track" them.

My response to the government officials: you can track me as long as you can follow me in an unmarked car, but you're not going to put a tracking system in my vehicle.

preacher wrote:Many states (Oregon is one I know of right off the top of my head) are trying to implement a similar GPS tracking system so they can tax cars based on the miles they are driven. Since cars are supposed to be getting better gas mileage that means they will be using less gas, which means the government entities will be getting less tax dollars from the sale of gas. They need to raise tax revenue somehow, so they decided the best way is just to tax drivers based on the number of miles they drive. And the only way to do that is to "track" them.

My response to the government officials: you can track me as long as you can follow me in an unmarked car, but you're not going to put a tracking system in my vehicle.

I think my tracking system would "malfunction" alot. Wouldn't it be easier to require state vehicle inspectors to record mileage and charge tax then? Anyone else wonder if the Amish got it right?

surprise_i'm_armed wrote:In this technical age where we are aware that we are being monitored in many secret ways,
why would anyone willingly sign up to be micro managed by a heartless corporation???

It's not much different from people voluntarily signing up for a grocery store discount card so the store can track their purchases.

Along the lines of the government not doing the right things:
1. Yes, gasoline tax revenues will go down as the average vehicle gets better
mileage. But if the federal and state govts would stop using the gas tax as a
budget-balancer, they'd actually have some cash to build/maintain the road system.

2. Recently the NTTA (North Texas Tollway Authority) announced some good news and
some bad news.
A. Good news - Speed limits on NTTA roads will be raised on September 1, 2009.
B. Bad news - Tolls will be raised on said roads by 30% on September 1, 2009.

The NTTA operates like a drug dealer or a credit card company. They get you hooked on
the product, and from then on you are doomed to ride the ever-more-costly roads.

Someone mentioned that the NTTA could save vast sums of money by laying off the army
of landscapers they have working on making the median strips and sides of the road more
manicured all the time.

boomerang wrote:It's not much different from people voluntarily signing up for a grocery store discount card so the store can track their purchases.

+1. It's something I might consider for our extra car, that gets driven about 5-10 miles a week, if proving that could get us a significant insurance discount.

I'd put one on my dog...

Fangs wrote:I'd put one on my dog...

"Sir, why do you have insurance on a car you only drive around your backyard for hours on end?"