Greg In The Desert

I have a feeling there will be some last minute changes that will still allow all states driver license. If not the situation could get ugly.

The Bush administration passed the law, designed to stop terrorists from entering the country, after Sept. 11, 2001. All 50 states have to comply with its regulations by Jan. 1, 2010.
Sec. Rick Homans said the clock is ticking and New Mexico is nowhere near close.
“The way it is right now, come Jan. 1st, residents of New Mexico and residents of about 25 other states wouldn’t be allowed to board airplanes unless they had a valid passport.”

This is not looking good.

Sen. Udall: Yeah. Well, as you are probably aware, the situation that we’re in now — we have health care on the floor — where if tried to move to anything else I think it would make it much more difficult procedurally. So I think if — I don’t see us getting to Pass ID on the Senate floor between now and the end of the year. So I think it would be very helpful for you to issue a statement — you might use this as an opportunity to do it — to assure people that after December 31st they will be able to travel with something other than a passport. I don’t know if you want to do that at this point but if you decline that’s fine.

Sec. Napolitano: I think I will not accept that invitation at this point in time.

You know it’s coming. Those black boxes they have in airplanes are coming to your automobile (some already have them). Technology like this cannot be stopped, it’s to easy too implement and the “apparent” benefits are too great. The benefit is that law enforcement doesn’t have to do as much work trying to figure how fast you were going before you hit that other car, just plug in and download. Crash data from a passenger airliner is considerably different, were talking about your personal property being potentially used against you. California has enacted a law to protect people from having this data used without them knowing it’s there.

Most current devices only record a few seconds of data prior to a airbag deployment. It’s very easy now to record hours and hours of data and it’s only a matter of time before these black boxes can do the same.

But what if you could use that data to prove to your insurance company that your a good driver? Progressive Insurance is doing just such a thing. As I understand it here’s how it works: the device plugs into your ODB interface. It records everything your vehicle does. You take the data from the device and review it on your computer. From there you decide if your driving was good enough for a discount, send it off to the insurance company (It’s your choice). As a male living in New Mexico my insurance rates are pretty high. If this was offered to me I would do it, and when I drive down the road I would remember I can save a significant amount if I just obey the speed limit, stop at the red light, use my signal. If they can work out the eventual “where’s my data going” issues it could work out for those that are really safe drivers. The almighty dollar may just speak enough to make some slow down.