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probably, since it's not fully automated (yet!). You're not just a passenger, but like an engineer of a train. You need to be ready to take the helm & steer if the auto-pilot disengages or can't determine a safe course along a route, say an unplanned construction site or cones/flares around a major traffic accident.
I'll disagree with it being revenue generation, at least as the sole reason... But I believe enforcement will continue. Laws will likely have to be rewritten in several states.. Those that define drunk driving as the 'operation' of the vehicle..
I actually disagree with the above.. Sure, give the one guy an animal cruelty (Which seems too far, perhaps animal endangerment).. But, guy on a lawnmower? Only way I could see that is if they were on the lawnmower on a public road. And there have been people nailed for actually mowing their lawn drunk.
Precisely why you should have enclosed property than no one could violate without a warrant. As long as you're not putting anyone in danger but yourself, why not?
But if you're endangering yourself by mowing the lawn drunk & others are forced to pay for your healthcare if you injure yourself, then shouldn't people tasked with "protecting" us cite you, even if they're merely "protecting" you from yourself.
Then again, you could just mow the lawn drunk, do it safely (yes, there is such a thing as mowing the lawn drunk safely) and have a grand 'ole time doing it! Who are they to keep us from doing something like that on our own property.
Thankfully I have no grass on my property so this is a moot point for me. I'll just swim drunk after drinking plenty of apple cider.
Will the police still try to bust you for being drunk or stoned (or both) if the car is driving you home all by itself?
As long as the person behind the wheel is ultimately responsible for what it does, DUI laws would still apply. As an analogy, commercial airplanes fly themselves 98% of the time and pilots are still expected to be sober. In fact BAC standards are far more stringent for pilots and penalties far more severe.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soviet
Of course they will! They can't possibly lose that revenue generation train!
Oh stop it already and grow up. Not every law enforcement action is about revenue generation. There is a clear and obvious public interest in preventing people from driving drunk and punishing those who do.
Oh stop it already and grow up. Not every law enforcement action is about revenue generation. There is a clear and obvious public interest in preventing people from driving drunk and punishing those who do.
Seems like it's both.
If court fees and fines as a result of a DWI arrest go the State General Fund, then it's a revenue generating mechanism.
If court fees and fines as a result of a DWI arrest go the State General Fund, then it's a revenue generating mechanism.
Court fees, by definition, do not go into the general fund. What's more, applying fines and fees to the general fund is not a sufficient characteristic to indicate a lawis about revenue. Designating special funds administered by the state is really nothing more than an accounting line item; the state still gets the money and gets to decide how it's spent. If anything, taking fines generated by local law enforcement and directing them into the state general fund would be indicative that the law is not about generating revenue, because the departments that make the arrests don't get the funds.
Court fees, by definition, do not go into the general fund. What's more, applying fines and fees to the general fund is not a sufficient characteristic to indicate a lawis about revenue. Designating special funds administered by the state is really nothing more than an accounting line item; the state still gets the money and gets to decide how it's spent. If anything, taking fines generated by local law enforcement and directing them into the state general fund would be indicative that the law is not about generating revenue, because the departments that make the arrests don't get the funds.
I'd feel comfortable wagering on that in almost every state in the U.S., at least a portion of DWI related court fees go into the general funds.
I see what you're saying if we're talking about a bust not made by the State police, in terms of the viewpoint of the arresting officer.
I also didn't start out strictly referring to the viewpoint of the arresting officer and from there it turns into an argument about semantics.
Even in the states in which a portion of the fees do not go into the general fund, it's not as if the monies disappear into thin air. A portion might go to the highway fund and three other funds, but either way they're not even close to being used entirely for DWI enforcement or restitution. That's how I come up with "revenue generating mechanism."
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I agree that the laws would not change, but I still do not believe that we will see self-driving cars on the public roads in our lifetime, for two reasons. One, reliability of the systems, look at the recalls for re-programming that we hear about daily due to bugs in the programming of the 30+ computer systems already in the modern vehicle, or the PC "blue screen of death" or repeated need for re-booting. Second, it would be too easy for terrorists to hack and send an unoccupied vehicle full of explosives into a target building (same reason we won't see drones delivering for Fedex).
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